The United States on Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the devastating 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks with a solemn ceremony in New York, overshadowed by President Donald Trump's decision not to attend the main commemoration and criticism from some victims' families.
In an unusual move, Trump paid tribute at the Pentagon rather than attending the ceremony in New York, where hijacked aircraft destroyed the World Trade Centre in 2001, killing almost 3,000 people.
Trump sought to link the “war on terror” that followed the attacks, which led to years of US military involvement in the Middle East, with his current confrontation with Iran.
“Today we renew the sacred oath we first made in their name a quarter-century ago. We will never, ever forget. That is what we are fighting for today,” Trump said.
“We have no choice. There is only victory. We fight hard. We fight to win,” he added.
Vice President JD Vance and Trump's four living predecessors — Republican George W. Bush, who was president at the time of the attacks, and Democrats Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — attended the ceremony at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan.
Families remember victims at Ground Zero
Large crowds gathered for the solemn annual ceremony, which began shortly after 8.40am local time and retraced the events of 11 September minute by minute.
As is customary, the names of those killed were read aloud, while a bell was rung to mark key moments of the attacks.
The ceremony is traditionally non-political and does not feature speeches.
However, several relatives of victims who read out the names criticised Saudi Arabia and questioned the ties maintained by previous US administrations with the kingdom.
‘We have no justice’, relatives say
Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada died in the Twin Towers, launched a strong criticism of Riyadh, accusing Saudi Arabia of complicity in the attacks and criticising the former presidents attending the ceremony.
She said that for 25 years, successive US administrations, including leaders present at the ceremony, had chosen to protect Saudi Arabia rather than stand with a 9/11 victim's family.
In New York, Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor, attended the Ground Zero ceremony despite a campaign calling on him not to appear.
The campaign was led by the conservative New York Post and former mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani.
A petition, which has gathered more than 100,000 signatures, accuses Mamdani of maintaining ties with unnamed individuals who “question American institutions or fail to sufficiently criticise extremist ideologies”.
Mamdani has also received praise for recently releasing thousands of documents showing what city officials knew about air toxicity in Lower Manhattan following the attacks.
After the initial cloud of dust caused by the collapse of the World Trade Centre, months of pollution and airborne dust followed, contributing to cancers and other illnesses from which thousands of New Yorkers continue to suffer.
The attacks
Nineteen members of al-Qaeda hijacked four aircraft on that autumn morning in 2001.
Two of the planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre, causing the iconic skyscrapers to collapse.
A third aircraft struck the Pentagon, while a fourth, believed to have been heading for Congress or the White House, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to overpower the hijackers.
Around 100 million Americans have been born since the attacks or were too young to remember the events of that day.
A quarter of a century later, the anniversary remains a defining moment in American history, with commemorations continuing across the country to honour those who died.
