TEHRAN — The 25th anniversary of September 11 stripped away any lingering illusion of political unity in Washington. At Ground Zero, families of the victims directly confronted the American political establishment over its quarter-century shielding of Saudi Arabia.

Hours earlier at the Pentagon, President Donald Trump and “War” Secretary Pete Hegseth tried to refashion the memory of 2001 into a propaganda vehicle for the war against Iran.

Terry Strada stood before an audience that included every living former president and Vice President JD Vance.

Her husband, Tom, died in the North Tower. As chair of 9/11 Families United, her focus was not on vague memorial platitudes, but on specific state complicity.

“For 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families,” Strada said.

She said that successive White Houses have withheld evidence, vetoed legislation, and broken promises to survivors.

Turning toward Vance, she demanded action: “Stand with the families. Stand with the survivors. Stand with Americans.”

Strada also called on Trump to “tell the Saudis to stop lying” and to acknowledge their role in funding and assisting the hijackers.

The timing gives her words legal teeth. In August 2025, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels rejected Saudi Arabia’s attempt to throw out a massive civil lawsuit brought by victims’ families.

Daniels ruled that plaintiffs presented credible evidence showing Saudi government officials provided material support to al-Qaeda operatives in California prior to the attack.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Zero were Iranian.

Yet across the Potomac, the administration presented a rewritten history. At the Pentagon, where 184 people died in 2001, Hegseth falsely claimed Iran “cheered on 9/11” and argued that six months of U.S. air strikes against Tehran were a direct continuation of post-9/11 counterterrorism.

Trump echoed the posture, declaring that U.S. forces were fighting in West Asia to ensure Iran never acquires nuclear weapons under the banner of “never forget.”

The factual gap is glaring. Al-Qaeda, a Sunni extremist organization, viewed Shia Iran as a mortal enemy.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei addressed Hegseth’s claims directly on X, noting that not a single Iranian participated in the 2001 attacks.

Baqaei pointed out that the actual perpetrators were armed, organized, or cultivated by past American policy choices.

He called the administration’s attempt to drape a six-month-old offensive in 9/11 symbolism “utterly absurd,” attaching a meme to mock what Tehran views as an incoherent strategy.

Returning from Ireland over the weekend, Trump offered only a vague promise when pressed by reporters on whether he would declassify remaining files on Saudi Arabia, saying he would “look at it.”

For families who have fought through two decades of federal court battles, vague promises carry no weight.