US President Donald Trump on 9/11: Nowhere to hide anywhere on this very large earth

US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at the Pentagon Memorial September 11, 2017 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump attends a national moment of silence on the 16th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade center using his 9/11 memorial speech to issue a warning to anyone planning future attacks on the US.

The president, who recently announced his administration’s strategy for the long-running conflict in Afghanistan, which began in 2001 as supposed hunt for the organizers of the September 11 attacks, warned Monday that “We are making plain to these savage killers there are no dark corner out of our reach, no sanctuary beyond our grasp and nowhere to hide anywhere on this very large earth.”

The event was the first commemoration as president for a New York native who has described the destruction of the Twin Towers as a “defining” event in his political life. Trump’s wife Melania also accompanied the president and joined a minute’s silence at 9.37am - the precise moment the first plane hit the World Trade Center.. 

“On that day, not only did the world change, but we all changed,” he said. “Our eyes were opened to the depths of the evil we face. But in that hour of darkness, we also came together with renewed purpose. Our differences never looked so small, our common bonds never felt so strong.”

Later in the day, Trump joined Defence Secretary James Mattis and General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Department of Defense and yet again repeated what he called America’s resolve against terrorist threats.

"The terrorists who attacked us thought they could incite fear and weaken the spirit. Those who try will soon join the long list of vanquished enemies who dare to test our mettle.”

Trump further stated that he was committed in “destroying the enemies of all civilized people.”