Americans commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks today, honouring the nearly 3,000 victims killed in 2001 while reflecting on the enduring geopolitical and societal impact of the tragedy.

In New York, victims' families joined Vice President JD Vance and four former US presidents at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. The ceremony commenced at 8:46 a.m. with a moment of silence marking the instant American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Family members subsequently read aloud the names of the 2,977 victims of the 2001 attacks and the six individuals killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. For the first time, a seventh moment of silence was observed to honour thousands who have succumbed to illnesses caused by toxic dust exposure following the tragedy.

The New York City Fire Department, which lost 343 members on the day of the attack, reported that over 600 additional firefighters have since died from 9/11-related illnesses, including 26 deaths recorded this year alone.

Commemorations were also held at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, where an American flag was unfurled to mark the crash of American Airlines Flight 77, which claimed 184 lives. President Donald Trump was scheduled to address attendees at the site later in the day. Simultaneously, mourners gathered in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93.

The quarter-century milestone highlights the long-term foreign and domestic consequences of the attacks, which initiated the global "war on terror" and led to prolonged military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

-Reuters