US defense secretary Pete Hegseth delivered remarks at a ceremony at the Pentagon on Friday on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Hegseth used his speech to turn to the ongoing conflict in Iran and sought to connect it to the 2001 attacks on America. ““Our warriors have fought an Islamic theocracy that has 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, in Afghanistan," he said.