Live Updates: 25 years after Sept. 11 attacks, America reflects and remembers

After recognizing the heroes of 9/11 at the Pentagon ceremony on Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth brought up the Iran war, saying the U.S. is raising up a new generation to fight.

"Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world's most prolific state sponsor of terrorism," Hegseth said. "Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that have wished us death for nearly half a century, that cheered on 9/11. A regime that has sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans for decades, killing thousands, including our comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan. But they did not factor in this president."

"We're still sending terrorists where they belong, to hell, and tankers to the bottom of the ocean, where they belong," he continued. "And we're ensuring Iran will never have a nuclear weapon."  

President Trump said in remarks at the Pentagon Friday that the U.S. is stronger than ever before, and urged Americans to raise children to believe that the U.S. is good.

"We can raise our children to know that their country is good, that their fathers are brave, and that our flag is a symbol of justice and freedom," he said. "And we can be a nation whose heroes are not fanatics for an abstract cause. ... But the kind who race into buildings and give their lives on a Tuesday morning for strangers they've never met."

"Today our country is stronger than it has ever been before," he said. "It has never been as strong as it is right now. Because of that spirit, when future generations come here in 25, 100 or 250 years from now, they will stand in a nation that is free and unyielding in the face of evil. And they will still honor the heroes of 9/11/2001." 

Referring to the war on terror in the present tense, President Trump suggested service members are continuing the fight against terror through the war with Iran.

"Today, we salute every member of the United States military who served in the war on terror," the president said. "It is a war on sick, horrible terror. We salute our first responders and law enforcement and we love them. And we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never ever have a nuclear weapon." 

Alluding to the ongoing military conflict with Iran, President Trump said at the Pentagon Friday that the U.S. won't ever forget the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, and that's why the U.S. must continue to fight.

"Today, we renew the sacred oath that we first swore in their names, a quarter of a century ago - we will never, ever forget," he said. "That's why we fight today. We don't have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard, we fight to win."

The president said the U.S. is still being tested today, and is winning that test.  

President Trump has started speaking at the Pentagon ceremony Friday, while the remembrance ceremony in New York City continues.

"On the 25th anniversary of this tragic day, the president will remember those who were killed at the hands of evil terrorists, honor their loved ones, and pay tribute to the brave first responders who put their lives on the line to rescue their fellow Americans," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly previously said. 

Two more moments of silence have been held, to mark when the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed, and when Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. They were held at 9:59 a.m. and 10:03 a.m. ET, respectively.

Two additional moments of silence are set to be held, totaling seven throughout the morning. They will be at 10:28 a.m. to mark the North Tower collapse and at 12:13 p.m., for those who died of 9/11-related health issues.

Condoleezza Rice, who was President George W. Bush's national security adviser at the time of the attacks, recalled the events of that morning.

"The attack came quite literally out of the blue," she said. "An assault on our cities that we had not experienced since the war of 1812."

Rice was at her desk at the White House when her executive assistant told her a plane had hit the World Trade Center. She thought it was an accident, as did Bush when she called him. But within 17 minutes, a second plane hit the other tower. The president was rushed to Air Force One, and Rice was hurried to a bunker in the White House.

At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld couldn't be reached. His phone simply kept ringing. It turned out that Rumsfeld was trying to pull people to safety, while his security detail begged him to get to safety.

"There was no doubt, the United States of America was at war," Rice said.

"Here at the Pentagon, we feel the presence of 184 souls who were lost," she said. "Behind every name that we recite, there is a story. A life that mattered. A future unfulfilled. A void, a vast empty space. In the heart of a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, a sibling, a colleague or a friend."

Rice remembered the many Americans she saw who stepped up, went without sleep, and made immense sacrifices to serve their fellow Americans.

"Those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11," she said. "We did what we knew to do. But by definition, it was not enough."

Rice said they owe a "deep debt of gratitude" to the armed forces and intelligence services who prevented future attacks. But as national security adviser at the time, she also shared a deep sense of personal remorse that they did not prevent the attacks.

"I will always carry deep personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen still feel, and for the trauma that our country endured," she said.  

The wife of a man who died in the terror attacks called on the Trump administration to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged role in the tragedy. 

"We finally made it into a court and have proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamist hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones," Terry Strada said in remarks addressing her late husband, Tom Strada, during the annual reading of the names at Ground Zero.

Strada then accused American leaders of choosing to "protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families."

She called on President Trump to take action with Saudi Arabia.

"Tell them that if they want to be friends with the USA they cannot continue to deny all of this, all of the pain, all of the destruction that we have all been suffering through," Strada said.

She addressed Vice President JD Vance, who was in attendance at the ceremony: "Stand with the families, stand with the survivors, stand with Americans. As my husband Tom would have said, that is always the right thing to do."

Strada's remarks were met with applause and cheers at the traditionally solemn ceremony honoring those who were killed.

Three moments of silence have been held so far — to mark when Flights 11 and 175 crashed into the North Tower and South Tower of the World Trade Center, and when Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

They were held at 8:46 a.m., 9:03 a.m. and 9:37 a.m.

Additional moments of silence will be throughout the morning:

• 9:59 a.m. – South Tower collapses
• 10:03 a.m. – Flight 93 crashes in Shanksville, Pennsylvania 
• 10:28 a.m. – North Tower collapse
• 12:13 p.m. - For those who died of 9/11-related health issues

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sept. 11, 2001, was not just a day of loss, but a "great story of American courage."

"My fellow Americans and most importantly the survivors and the families of the fallen that are here with us today, thank you for being here to mourn, to honor and to most importantly, remember, those we lost here today 25 years ago," he said.

"Today is not just the story of loss," Caine said. "It is also a story of great American courage, selfless service, and those who made the choice to carry those memories forward. Today and every day here at the Pentagon and around the nation, we remember the 184 lives taken here at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77. The thousands we lost in New York. And the 40 heroes aboard United Airlines Flight 93."

In the moment of the greatest dangers, Caine said "Americans moved towards one another."

At the Pentagon, service members and civilians alike entered the smoke to bring their teammates home to safety, he said. Caine emphasized that the Pentagon will continue to honor the heroes of 9/11 by remaining vigilant, and being prepared for the "unimaginable."  

A moment of silence was held for all those lost at the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. That was the moment Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.

President Trump folded his hands in front of him then saluted to observe the moment.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Vanessa Minter, an American Airlines reservations agent, answered flight attendant Betty Ong's call from one of the hijacked planes.

"The cockpit's not answering. Somebody's stabbed in business class and um, I think there's mace, we can't breathe," Ong said on the call. "I don't know, I think we're getting hijacked."

In an exclusive interview with CBS News, Minter said she was amazed by the flight attendant's bravery and composure.

"I had to ask myself could I have done that because she was literally a pillar," Minter said. "She knew what she was doing, she knew what information we needed and she was all business."

But the call was short.

"The last thing she said to me was pray for us and my supervisor took over my phone call and the line went dead. Which was when they hit the World Trade Center," she said.

Twenty-five years later, Minter finally met Ong's family in person.

Read more here.

At the Pentagon, the names of the 125 people who died in the Pentagon were read aloud. All 59 passengers aboard Flight 77 also died. 

The Pentagon ceremony began at 9 a.m., with President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on stage.

The ceremony is honoring those who died aboard Flight 77, which struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. on Sept. 11, and all those who died on the Pentagon grounds.

Mr. Trump saluted as the Star-Spangled Banner played. 

The names of those who died in the attacks of Sept. 11 are being read Friday at the remembrance ceremony in New York City. Children and grandchildren of 9/11 victims are among those participating.

The reading of the names began as American cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed a musical tribute. 

CBS News New York is live streaming the ceremony in its entirety.

Crowds have gathered at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan for the remembrance ceremony getting underway Friday morning.

Every year, the city and nation pause to remember the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 2001 attacks and in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The ceremony began with the national anthem, followed by the first of seven planned moments of silence and the ringing of a bell to mark the moment the first tower was struck.

Matthew Palazzo, an active-duty machinery technician in the Coast Guard, will stand next to Vice President Vance at the ceremony in Manhattan. 

Palazzo never met his father, who was also a machinery technician in the Coast Guard as well as an FDNY firefighter. Jeffrey Palazzo, who served in Rescue Company 5 in Manhattan, was killed responding to the World Trade Center 25 years ago. He was 33 when he died. 

Matthew Palazzo joined the Coast Guard in 2020, following in his late father's footsteps.

On Saturday, the Coast Guard is expected to commission a new patrol boat in New York City named after Palazzo's father. 

Observance ceremonies begin at 8:30 a.m. ET today at the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, with events planned throughout the day.

United Airlines Flight 93 hijackers appeared to be headed for the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., but the passengers and crew members fought back, leading to the plane crashing into an empty field. All 33 passengers and seven crew members were killed.

Gordon Felt, whose brother Ed was on the plane, told CBS News' Nicole Sganga how critical it is to keep telling the story of the passengers who confronted the hijackers.

"These were the citizen soldiers of the new century. And then the battle got handed over to the military," he said.

The tragedy of Sept. 11 instantly transformed not just the New York City skyline, but the country and the world we live in. 

Within weeks, the U.S. declared a global war on terror, launching what would become a 20-year military campaign in the Middle East – first in Afghanistan and eventually in Iraq. 

Thousands of U.S. service members died and trillions of dollars were spent, ending with a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban back in power there.

9/11 led to the creation of a brand-new, Cabinet-level department: Homeland Security, and beneath it, a host of new agencies from the TSA – overseeing heightened restrictions on commercial air travel – to CBP and ICE, taking on expanded border patrol and immigration enforcement responsibilities.

The government also established a director of national intelligence and grew surveillance operations in the name of inter-agency collaboration, precaution and safety — viewed by some critics as mass overreach. 

In the attacks' immediate aftermath, the nation was united by sorrow, love and defiance. And from the ashes of the destruction came new monuments to American resilience: the 9/11 memorial, One World Trade Center, the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, and a restored Pentagon.

Twenty-five years after the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, the alleged plotters still have not faced a trial. 

After rejecting prosecutors' request to begin the trial in January 2027, a military judge at Guantánamo Bay has ordered jury selection for the trial of four alleged 9/11 plotters — including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused principal architect of the attacks — to begin on June 5, 2028. 

"There's significant frustration," Gordon Felt, president of Families of Flight 93, told CBS News. Felt is the brother of Flight 93 passenger Edward Felt and leads efforts to share his story and that of all 40 passengers and crew members who fought back against hijackers. 

"We've yet to see justice or accountability. The trials are still in a pre-trial phase at Guantanamo … that's been dragging on endlessly," he said.

Read more here.

Twenty-five years after Sept. 11, 2001, the casualties are still mounting. Roughly 6,000 first responders, survivors and volunteers have died from illnesses related to the attacks. The New York City Fire Department recently added the names of 36 firefighters who died from related diseases to its memorial wall.

"Thirty-six more reminders that the legacy of September 11th doesn't end on one single day," said FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore.

The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund has received at least 112,000 claims, awarding more than $18 billion.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently documents from the aftermath of 9/11, which show that the city was aware of airborne toxins that later sickened and killed thousands.

"The government told us the air was safe to breathe," said Peter Raho, who worked as an accountant near Ground Zero and was later diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Speaking at his presidential library in Dallas earlier this week, former President George W. Bush reflected on the response he led after the 9/11 attacks.

"Our nation occasionally goes through isolationist periods, where the attitude is, 'Well, we've got too many problems at home. Therefore, who cares about what happens overseas?'" said Bush, who wasn't yet eight months into his first term when the attacks occurred. "Which really means to me they just don't pay attention to the lessons of 9/11, because what happens overseas matters to our national security at home."

As president, he launched the war in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks, and then supported the development of a democratic government after years of humanitarian abuses by the Taliban. But the conflict dragged on for 20 years, becoming America's longest war, until the U.S. withdrew and Afghanistan came under Taliban rule again in 2021. 

Bush also recalled how he had been visiting an elementary school on Sept. 11, 2001, when his then-chief of staff Andy Card first told him about the attacks. 

In that moment, "I became a wartime president," Bush said. "This was a war, and that the job of the president and the country and his team is to rally the nation and to do what's necessary to protect our people." 

Read more here.

The reading of the names of the deceased at Ground Zero will be punctuated by seven moments of silence:

• 8:46 a.m. ET: Hijackers deliberately crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center
• 9:03 a.m. ET: Hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower
• 9:37 a.m. ET: Hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon
• 9:59 a.m. ET: South Tower collapses
• 10:03 a.m. ET: Passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 launch a counterattack on hijackers aboard their plane, causing hijackers to crash into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania
• 10:38 a.m. ET: North Tower collapses
• After the reading of names concludes at 12:30 or 1 p.m. ET: A seventh moment of silence for those who died from 9/11-related health effects

The final moment of silence was added to this year's program, recognizing thousands of first responders, rescuers, recovery workers and local residents who died from health complications, in some cases years after the attacks. 

CBS News will have live coverage of the memorial events taking place at the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan; the Pentagon, where President Trump is attending; and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

• What: Memorial events mark 25 years since the 9/11 attacks
• Date: Friday, Sept. 11, 2026  
• Time: Beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET
• Location: New York City, The Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania
• On TV: CBS television stations (find your local station here)
• Online stream: Live on CBS News in the video player above and on your mobile or streaming device 
• CBS News New York is streaming extended live coverage of the World Trade Center memorial ceremony in full.

Vice President JD Vance and four former U.S. presidents join the ceremony Friday morning at the World Trade Center memorial site in Lower Manhattan, which is set to begin at 8:40 a.m. ET.

Prominent leaders attending the New York City events include:

• Former President George W. Bush & Laura Bush, who were in office at the time of the attacks.
• Former President Bill Clinton & former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was a senator from New York in 2001. 
• Former President Barack Obama & Michelle Obama
• Former President Joe Biden & Jill Biden  
• Vice President JD Vance 
• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul
• New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani
• Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was in office at the time of the attacks.

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will recognize 25 years since Sept. 11, 2001, at the Pentagon, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine.

The event is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET, with a wreath-laying ceremony set for 10:25 a.m. 

Earlier this week, Mr. Trump held an event to honor 9/11 heroes on the Ellipse near the White House. He gave Welles Crowther, remembered as the "man in the red bandana" for his heroism on 9/11, a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

The New York City Police Department is planning a "massive" deployment on Friday, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

"There will be layers of security that are highly visible and others that the public will not see," Tisch told reporters at a news conference Wednesday.

She said New Yorkers can expect to see uniformed officers throughout the area, along with members of the Counterterrorism Bureau, including heavy weapons teams and counter-drone teams.

Tisch told New Yorkers to expect "significant traffic and pedestrian restrictions throughout Lower Manhattan," with street closures covering a large portion of the neighborhood. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani encouraged the public not to drive downtown in Manhattan.

Mamdani said the ceremony at Ground Zero is not open to the general public and there will be security screenings for those invited.

Read more here.

The spot where the Twin Towers once stood remains a sacred space for remembering those lost in the attacks. The memorial — which includes pools of water in the footprints of the towers — is surrounded by a neighborhood brought back from devastation.

Rebuilding the area around Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks took years, and included battles between various stakeholders with interest in the future of Lower Manhattan. Even today, 25 years later, it is still not complete.

Explore satellite images, photos and video of the site's transformation.

This year's 9/11 memorial service is Zohran Mamdani's first as mayor of New York City.  

In an interview last week, he said he views it as an "enormous responsibility" at a very somber time, and he wants to make sure the day is about remembrance, not about politics. 

"It's about those that were killed that day. It's about their families. It's about the lives that have been shattered. And when you go through the museum, you see in those portraits an entire city. You see the breadth of what makes this city New York," Mamdani said, "and on these anniversaries, you have an opportunity to recognize those, to remember those."

Read more and watch the interview here.

In a silent tribute that has become a New York City tradition, the Tribute in Light returned this week to mark 25 years since the 9/11 attacks. The towering beams of light fill the night skies where the Twin Towers once stood. 

After extensive live coverage of the events on Friday, Tony Dokoupil anchors the "CBS Evening News" from Ground Zero, and then two primetime specials will spotlight stories of lives touched in different ways by the tragedy.

At 8 p.m. ET, the CBS News special "9/11: We Remember" features three stories of survival, loss and hope. "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl will revisit a story reported by her late colleague Ed Bradley, looking at Summit, N.J., which lost nine residents in the attacks. Dokoupil talks with a family that escaped the World Trade Center with their toddler but lost their family patriarch, an FDNY hero. And Norah O'Donnell interviews the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, who shares his experience as a young fighter pilot mobilized on 9/11.

Then at 9 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+, "Daughters of 9/11" follows two friends who lost their fathers, Elizabeth Miller and Jessica Trant, and FBI special agent Frank Pellegrino as they confront whether the man accused of masterminding the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will ever face justice. Read more of their story here.

Americans view the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as a defining event — one that fundamentally changed the country.

In a CBS/YouGov poll conducted earlier this month, 68% of respondents said the attacks changed America permanently. Since the events of that day, 60% say the U.S. war on terrorism has been very or somewhat successful, while 40% say it was somewhat unsuccessful or very unsuccessful. 

Americans are roughly split on whether they think America is prepared for terrorist attacks now. Forty-eight percent of Americans say the U.S. is prepared, while 52% say the country is unprepared. 

Read more here.