America remembers 9/11 attacks on 25th anniversary

Washington DC, New York City and Pennsylvania hold commemorations

marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attack.

All across the country, Americans commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11,

remembering the shock, the victims and the consequences of

the al-Qaida extremists hijacking of four commercial jets that crashed into

New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a

field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people.

At Ground Zero New York City, the former site of the World Trade Centre's Twin Towers,

the milestone anniversary brought memorial rituals.

Former President George W Bush, who was in office on 9/11,

and ex-Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden and

current Vice President JD Vance convene for the observance

at the National September 11 Memorial.

Traditionally, there are no political speeches at the Ground Zero commemoration.

Instead, names of the victims are read out along with some personal messages.

Among those messages, however, was one from a wife who

lost her husband in New York

condemning Saudi Arabia's involvement in the attacks.

The tone, while still solemn, takes on a more political tone

at the Pentagon, where US President Donald Trump

and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth earlier

took the opportunity to connect those harrowing

events a quarter century ago to the war with Iran today.

As Trump remembers those who have been lost, he salutes the

service members working now to eradicate "the world's

number one state sponsor of terrorism."

Hegseth uses the moment to praise soldiers who continue to fight

America's war on terror against "an Islamic theocracy"

that had "cheered on 9/11."

As well, families, colleagues and loved ones

gather at the Flight 93 National Memorial near the site

of the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the fourth plane crash, to remember the 40

passengers and crew members who stormed the cockpit and fought

hijackers who were attempting to direct the plane into a federal

building in Washington.