A visitor stops at one of the reflecting pools at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at ground zero on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, September 11, 2026.Jeenah Moon | Getty Images On September 11, 2001, terrorists backed by Al Qaeda hijacked four passenger planes. Two planes were flown into the twin World Trade Center skyscrapers in New York, the first at 8:46 a.m. and the second at 9:03 a.m., and both towers collapsed that same morning. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, while a fourth, believed to be headed to the U.S. Capitol, crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers tried to regain control of the plane. The coordinated attacks became the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil, killing 2,977 people in New York, at the Pentagon and aboard the four hijacked planes, excluding the 19 hijackers. The attacks led directly to the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and helped launch a broader U.S. “war on terrorism” that also included the 2003 invasion of Iraq. On the 25th anniversary of the attack, Americans remember the victims with moments of silence and ceremonies at Ground Zero in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville. Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Vice President JD Vance and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended the ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero, while President Donald Trump spoke at the ceremony at the Pentagon. Photos show how first responders, family and friends of the victims and others commemorated the anniversary. A man touches the Empty Sky memorial in Jersey City, New Jersey, as the sun rises behind lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, September 11, 2026.Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | Getty Images Military personnel and first responders watch as an American flag hangs from the side of the Pentagon on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, September 11, 2026. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images A woman pauses in a reflecting pool at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum before a ceremony commemorating the 25th anniversary of the attacks, September 11, 2026. Spencer Platt | AFP | Getty Images A man holds a sign showing a photograph of a firefighter who died in the 9/11 attacks, at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, September 11, 2026. Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images Police officers gather near One World Trade Center during the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, September 11, 2026. Ryan Murphy | AFP | Getty ImagesRosanne Spirito and her daughters Sabrina and Amanda at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, September 11, 2026.Adam Gray | Getty ImagesSecretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero before a ceremony to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, September 11, 2026.Adam Gray | Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump listen to the national anthem at the Pentagon during the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, September 11, 2026.Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images Firefighters from the New York Fire Department pay their respects in a reflecting pool at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, September 11, 2026. Jeenah Moon | ReutersFirefighters salute in front of the FDNY Ten House, the first station to respond to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, during the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the attacks, in New York, on September 11, 2026.Ryan Murphy | AFP | Getty ImagesFrom left to right, former first lady Jill Biden, former President Joe Biden, former first lady Laura Bush, former President George W. Bush, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Vice President JD Vance, along with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, far right, attend the ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, 11 September 2026. Swimming pool | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesSeptember. 9/11 survivor George Mironis and a first responder visit the National September 11 Memorial and Museum before a remembrance ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, September 11, 2026. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesSeptember. 11 family members of the victims at the memorial stone marking the site of the Flight 93 crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2026.Jeff Swensen | Getty ImagesPeople stand inside the Oculus at the World Trade Center transportation hub in New York as sunlight passing through its skylight forms two parallel columns of light representing the twin towers as part of the “Wedge of Light” on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, September 11, 2026. Andres Kudacki | Getty ImagesAn attendee places his hand on the memorial before the 25th anniversary commemoration ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York on September 11, 2026.David Dee Delgado | Bloomberg | fake images
