President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made comments in support of the ongoing war with Iran during a ceremony at the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.
The annual ceremony recognizes the 184 people who died when American Airlines Flight 77, carrying 59 people, hit the western side of the building, killing 125 people inside.
"Today, we salute every member of the United States military who served in the War on Terror," Trump said, referencing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that lasted from 2001 to 2021. "It's 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," Trump said. The crowd applauded.
Osama bin Laden, originally from Saudi Arabia, planned and directed the 9/11 terrorist attacks as the leader of al-Qaida, which sent a 19-person team to the U.S. Al-Qaida had refuge under the Taliban in Afghanistan, which the U.S. invaded shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
Earlier in his speech, Trump referenced an ongoing fight without referencing a specific battlefield: "We will never, ever forget. That’s why we fight today. We don’t have a choice. There can only be victory. We fight hard. We fight to win."
Hegseth made similar comments during his speech.
“The struggle against evil continues, and it continues now,” Hegseth said before turning to the Iran war, which started in late February. “Over the past six months, we have laid waste to the world’s most prolific state sponsor of terrorism.”
Hegseth hailed the American military’s efforts in Iran, saying U.S. forces “killed their leaders, destroyed their air force, and their navy rests at the bottom of the sea.”
“We’re ensuring that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,” he added. “The economic pressure tightens every day. We control the Strait [of Hormuz]. We will finish this fight.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Number one sponsor of terror.' At 9/11 memorial, Trump defends Iran war
