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Nation Marks The 25th Anniversary Of 9/11 Terror Attacks; Diesel Costs More Than $6.00 A Gallon For The First Time Ever; Yemen Government: Houthis Capture Strategic Perim Island In Red Sea. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired September 11, 2026 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL)
[07:33:20]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. We are live this morning overlooking 9/11 Memorial Plaza as the country marks 25 years since the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people -- the single largest loss of life from a foreign attack on U.S. soil.
Here in New York, families, officials, dignitaries are beginning to gather for this morning's ceremony that will be getting underway where the names of those lost will be read aloud one-by-one.
We're going to -- we will -- we will be with you throughout the moments here and also those happening throughout the country today.
But we also want to take you back to where it all began, as painful as it is.
CNN's Jason Carroll put this together for us and walks us through the morning of September 11th, minute by minute. And of course, a warning. These images are so difficult to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETTY ONG, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Somebody's stabbed in business class. I don't know. I think we're getting hijacked.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): An emergency call from Betty Ong, a flight attendant on board American Airlines flight 11, scheduled to fly from Boston to Los Angeles. Ong is the first to alert ground operations a plane has been hijacked.
ONG: Our number one has been stabbed and our five has been stabbed.
CARROLL (voiceover): There are 76 passengers and 11 crew on board. Eight twenty-four a.m., air controllers in Boston pick up the voice of the lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta, from the cockpit as he makes an announcement to passengers.
BOSTON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL: Is that American 11 trying to call?
MOHAMED ATTA, LEAD HIJACKER: (INAUDIBLE). We have some planes. Just stay quiet and we'll be okay.
[07:35:00]
CARROLL (voiceover): Eight forty-two a.m., United Airlines flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles, carrying 51 passengers and nine crew on board, is hijacked and turns towards New York City.
Eight forty-six a.m., the unimaginable happens to American Airlines flight 11.
FDNY: The whole outside of the building -- there was just a huge explosion. Send every available ambulance, everything you've got to the World Trade Center now.
CARROLL (voiceover): Smoke and flames shoot out from the building's 93rd and 99th floors.
CNN ANCHOR: This just in, you are looking at obviously a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center, and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center.
CARROLL (voiceover): America watches in horror, unsure if it's a tragic accident or something else.
JEANNE YURMAN, WITNESS: The side of the World Trade Center exploded right when I looked up, and at that point, debris started falling. I couldn't believe what I was watching.
CARROLL (voiceover): Eight fifty-one a.m., American Airlines flight 77 from Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles becomes the third U.S. flight to be hijacked. Sixty-four are on board.
Air traffic controllers spot United flight 175 on an erratic course.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a moment, we've got an explosion inside.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The building is exploding right now. You've got people running up the street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what's going on.
CARROLL (voiceover): Nine zero three a.m., the South Tower of the World Trade Center has been hit. Both Twin Towers now burning. First responders from across the city race downtown and into danger.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's play. Get ready.
CARROLL (voiceover): Nine zero five a.m., President George W. Bush is visiting second graders at a school in Florida and is told by his chief of staff America is under attack.
Frantic calls from inside the Twin Towers flood 911 dispatch, including one from Melissa Doi, a manager at a banking software company trapped on the cell tower's 83rd floor.
MELISSA DOI, TRAPPED ON 83RD FLOOR: We're on the floor and we can't breathe.
911: OK. Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm. You're doing a good job, ma'am. You're doing a good job.
DOI: It's so hot. I'm burning up.
911: Hey, Melissa. Oh my God.
CARROLL (voiceover): Nine twenty-eight a.m., a fourth aircraft is hijacked, United flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco, with 33 passengers and seven crew members on board.
Nine thirty-seven a.m., an explosion is reported at the Pentagon near Washington, D.C.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a large fire at the Pentagon. The Pentagon is being evacuated as we speak.
CARROLL (voiceover): American Airlines flight 77, which had taken off from Washington Dulles bound for Los Angeles, carrying 53 passengers, six crew, has crashed into the building's west side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like a cruise missile with wings went right there and slammed right into the Pentagon.
CARROLL (voiceover): Back in New York, the Twin Towers continued to burn in front of horrified onlookers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see the people jumping out the window. They're jumping out the window right now. Oh my God.
CARROLL (voiceover): Nine fifty-five a.m., passengers on board United flight 93 have decided to try to take back the aircraft. An airphone operator on the line with passenger Todd Beamer later recounted his rallying cry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, AIRPHONE OPERATOR: And he turned to talk to someone else while the phone was still open, and he said, "You ready?" They must have responded to him. He said, "OK, let's roll."
CARROLL (voiceover): Nine fifty-nine a.m.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my gosh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is about as frightening a scene as you will ever see.
CARROLL (voiceover): The collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center shakes the ground and the nation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was one of the most horrific sights I've ever seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The explosion shook the house clear over here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now we are getting a confirmation from United Airlines that its flight United 93 on the way to San Francisco has crashed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we looked up and we saw this huge airplane. It just looked like a big silver bomb.
CARROLL (voiceover): The passengers are later credited with taking down the hijackers before the aircraft could hit its intended target, either the nation's Capitol building or the White House.
Ten twenty-eight a.m., the North Tower, the first tower hit that morning, also collapses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, it's beyond words. It's horrifying. It's the worst thing that's ever happened. It's the most tragic thing that has happened to America by far.
CARROLL (voiceover): The World Trade Center is reduced to rubble, and much of downtown New York City is covered in debris and ash.
[07:40:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is just one of those awful moments that you need to look at for a minute or two to absorb exactly what has happened.
CARROLL (voiceover): Two thousand nine hundred seventy-seven lives have been lost.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Oh. Just seeing it again -- all over again.
On this 25th anniversary, we are honoring those brave men and women who made that ultimate sacrifice. Men like Stephen Siller, a member of the FDNY. Stephen had just finished a shift. He was on his way to play golf with his brothers. That's when he heard of the North Tower being hit.
Stephen ultimately raced back on foot, carrying 60 pounds of gear through the Battery Tunnel to get to the Twin Towers to help, and he never made it home that night.
I'm joined now by Frank Siller, chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, and most importantly, of course, Stephen's brother. Thank you for being here.
FRANK SILLER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION, BROTHER OF FALLEN FDNY FIREFIGHTER STEPHEN SILLER: Thank you for having me on, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Just before -- well, let's just -- let's just jump in. We have this beautiful video --
SILLER: Oh boy. BOLDUAN: -- of you and the family walking the tunnel this morning --
SILLER: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- and finishing it, and we're going to show it to our viewers.
Talk to me about what that -- what does it feel like to do that, knowing what your brother did?
SILLER: Listen, you know, we -- Tunnel to Towers -- you know, we try to take-- it's a sad day. It's always a very sad day and, you know, you never really get over it. You learn to live with it, you know. I love my brother so much. He was our little brother. He was youngest of seven of us. He was married, had five kids. It's a great sacrifice. But we need to do something to honor him and all those who perished that day.
And, you know, five years ago, I walked from the Pentagon to Shanksville to Ground Zero because it was a personal thing for me. It was 552 miles, 15 miles a day for six weeks. And I -- and I knew we had to do something for the 25th anniversary, and I wanted to make it nationwide.
So we took a piece of steel that the Port Authority gave us, and we brought it all over the United States. We started at Ground Zero, and we ended at Ground Zero today and walked through with my family, his children, Stephen Jr. Stephen Jr. was with the steel 95 percent of the time all around the United States. He was with Andy Card down in Emma E. Booker School down in Sarasota, Florida, where Andy whispered in President Bush's ear that we're -- that the North Tower was hit.
For him to go there and talk about his father all that time, it is -- it is something that is so special to our family, but to other families still.
We have to tell America what happened 25 years ago. A third of America wasn't even born --
BOLDUAN: Right.
SILLER: -- or they were so young that they have no idea. And we've got to remind the other Americans what happened because they're starting to be -- fade away and you know, like almost today's another day. And thank God that it's -- you know, I see all the media up here --
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
SILLER: -- that is covering everything and it's good.
But Stephen left behind a wife and five kids, and we just wanted to honor a good man and we started a foundation. And today we have delivered 55 mortgage-free homes today because we decided as a family that we weren't going to let evil win out, and that goodness always triumphs over evil. And we've proven that today by delivering 55 mortgage-free homes, 343 in total this year, almost one a day now to our great heroes who serve our country or are first responders.
BOLDUAN: You as a -- you have proven that good triumphs over evil over and over again with the foundation and what you've done.
Does it feel like 25 years to you?
SILLER: In some ways, yes, because I see his kids getting married --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
SILLER: -- and having children.
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
SILLER: And, you know, I have my own children married. I got a 17- year-old granddaughter, you know what I mean? So yes, in some ways like that.
In other ways, you know, when I go to play golf and I play with my -- you know, my other brother George and -- or my friends or whatever, I always put an extra tee in the ground for my brother Stephen because we were golfers.
BOLDUAN: Do you, really?
SILLER: Well, yeah, because we played golf all the time.
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
SILLER: We snuck out early in the morning, had a lot of kids. We squeezed in golf like you can't believe it. You know, we loved spending time with each other. We're supposed to play golf on 9/11, but he had a call to duty just like all these great heroes. They run towards danger while everybody else, rightfully so, is running away from it.
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
SILLER: So yeah, it's -- in some ways I can't believe it and other ways I feel like it was yesterday.
BOLDUAN: When we were watching Jason Carroll giving kind of the minute-by-minute together --
SILLER: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- you said everyone -- as painful as it is, everyone needs to see this. And it had me thinking about the tour that you have made for the last four-plus months with the steel beam.
[07:45:00]
And what have you learned? What did you hear? What surprised you? Because so many people -- the memories fade, the pain subsides. But what surprised you in this process?
SILLER: Well, I was so overwhelmed with joy and sadness, of course, --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
SILLER: -- at the same time -- and they can't coexist, right -- that so many families came. They -- like mothers and fathers, let's say, that are 40 years old or 45 years old that were so young on 9/11, and they bring in their children now. And they all went up to -- and I can't tell you how many people put their hand on it, and we asked people to do that and feel the sacrifice --
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
SILLER: -- that was made, and they prayed as a family. That is very powerful to see that, you know, hundreds and thousands of times, for sure.
You know, when I was watching the clip that you just had prior --
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
SILLER: -- before we came on, and I told you at 9:59 a.m., you know, every day when it's 9:59, if I look at a phone or clock --
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
SILLER: -- or whatever it may be, and I see that time, to me, that's when I lost my brother. That's every single day -- 9/11, every single day when it's 9/11. That's what goes through family's minds that lost somebody that day. I don't expect other people to do that, but this is, you know -- this was the loss that we have.
I turned to my mother-in-law at 9:59 and I said, "I think I just lost my brother." I got a call later on in the day from a firefighter down there and said Stephen's on a list of missing firefighters. It's really bad. His name is Richie Obermayer. I lived a couple of houses away from my brother, and he said, "Frank, nobody's coming home."
And I had to go into it. My siblings were all in my living room, and I had to say that little boy Stephen -- who my parents died by the time he was 10 years old. We raised him. He was as much a son to us as he was a brother. You see, he's not coming home. And that there's five kids who aren't going to have this outrageous human being with them for the rest of their lives. But we can't change that, but we can change how we attack life.
And my parents were Franciscans --
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
SILLER: -- the third or secular order of third order, right? And that's -- you know, they always taught us that my mother, you know, to offer it up to God --
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
SILLER: -- and, of course, faith can carry you through all, but also that you had to do something. Like, prayers are good, and I pray every day, multiple times every day. But you have to do something, and that's what we decided to do with the foundation. That we're going to do something good, tangible, pay off mortgages, build smart homes for catastrophic allegiant service members.
Make sure that, you know, homeless veterans are off the street -- 27,500 in the last three years, and we build apartments for them. It's incredible what we do.
BOLDUAN: It is incredible.
SILLER: It is.
And then last but not least, the Mayor George Siller, named after my mom and dad, a scholarship program where we pay off the college scholarships -- tuition for these kids that lost their mom and dad protecting you and I, you know.
So, you know, we say freedom isn't free. Families like mine and other families know that that's a true statement. But the rest of America is coming together because we've been able to help so many families from the kindness and generosity of Americans.
BOLDUAN: You have led by example with your love.
I guess, real quick, just what you -- a memory of -- a memory of Stephen on this day. What are you thinking about?
SILLER: I think of Stephen. He was the biggest buster in the world. His children remind me a lot of him, you know. He would do anything for anybody, any time of the day. I called him multiplicity man because he had -- everyone thought he was their best friend, and he was. But his nephews and nieces adored him. He was so kind to all of them. He was just a great brother. He was an incredible human being.
The proof is what he did --
BOLDUAN: Yes.
SILLER: -- not in words and in deeds.
BOLDUAN: Um-hum.
SILLER: And that's the story of life -- not in words and in deeds. And, indeed, his act of courage on 9/11 has changed many other people's lives in a very positive way.
BOLDUAN: Thank you for sharing --
SILLER: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: -- just a portion of today. You've already been -- you've had quite a morning already. Thank you for sharing.
SILLER: My pleasure.
BOLDUAN: It's really wonderful to see you.
SILLER: God bless.
BOLDUAN: Thank you.
Our special coverage of the 25th anniversary of September 11 continues ahead.
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[07:53:50]
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, the price of gas -- price of gas and diesel rising to new heights for the first time ever. The price of diesel is topping $6.00 a gallon. The national average you see there is a record $6.06.
Diesel costs have risen more than 55 percent since the start of the war in Iran. On the West Coast, the average price for diesel in California nearly $8.00 a gallon now. The spike in fuel prices comes just as the fall harvest season gets underway. Diesel, of course, key for farmers and manufacturers. And higher input costs could lead to higher food prices for consumers.
The price of regular gas is also up $4.30 a gallon. That is up 15 cents since just last week, John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Major developments overseas this morning, specifically in this region here near the Strait of Bab al- Mandab in Yemen here. Yemeni sources say that Iranian backed Houthi rebels have captured a key island on the Red Sea. I want to push in so you can see what I'm talking about there. They've captured this island, Perim Island here, right in the Strait of Bab al-Mandab.
[07:55:00]
This follows another major event just in the last 24 hours where they took over this city right here, Mocha -- you can see. So the Houthi rebels -- again, Iranian-backed -- moving ever closer to what looks like complete control of this crucial strait.
With us now, CNN political and global affairs commentator, Sabrina Singh.
Sabrina, again, this is happening at a fairly rapid pace. I mean, I woke up and the city had been taken by the Houthi rebels. And then just a few hours later, we get word that this island falls.
What kind of situation does that create for the United States and U.S. allies?
SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think you captured it perfectly. I mean, yesterday we were looking at reports of Houthi rebels advancing on the city of Mocha, which is a strategic port on the southwest corner of the Red Sea. That would allow -- that port would allow the Houthis greater control of the Bab al-Mandab, and that's 50 miles from it. And now, today, we're waking up and seeing that they've actually taken control of that critical island as well.
So what you're here is potentially the war in Iran spilling over into the region and opening up a new front when it comes to trade and shipping lanes.
The Strait of Hormuz, of course, is still being threatened by Iran. But Iranians' very powerful proxy group with the Houthis, now potentially controls another critical strait and shipping lanes through the Red Sea.
And we know that Saudi Arabia has had to, in fact, reroute a lot of its oil that it would get out through the strait. It was using the Red Sea and trying to even export it up through the Suez Canal. But with the Houthis now taking control of some of these two critical places, I think -- I think shipping is going to be further threatened, which means the global economy is going to be further upended.
BERMAN: You know, to give people a sense of exactly what you're talking about here, you can sort of make it out on our map. All the way up here, this is the Strait of Hormuz, right? And this is what has effectively been constricted if not closed for the last six months with the U.S. war with Iran.
So if there's not oil shipping getting out there and now Iranian- backed rebels have much more complete control over the Strait of Bab al-Mandab where Saudi Arabia was moving so much of its oil, then it just makes the situation that much worse.
Now we got word overnight, Sabrina, also that the United States now has some hundred -- what they're calling military advisers in Saudi Arabia -- in theory, helping. The Saudis are backing the Yemeni government ,right, who are battling the Houthi rebels.
When the U.S. sends 100 advisors somewhere to help, what does that mean?
SINGH: I think the -- this administration is taking this very seriously. They understand that should the Houthis be able to control just this critical waterway between the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab, not only is that going to upend the global economy, that is going to raise prices here at home.
And Sara, of course, was talking about the price of oil, the price of diesel today. That's going to go further up if the Houthis can threaten shipping and prevent Saudi, which is a critical oil exporter, from getting its oil out into the region. It's going to raise prices.
And right now, what Saudi is basically doing is having to go up through the Suez Canal, through the Mediterranean, and reroute oil through Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, all the way to get to Asian and European markets. That is extremely costly for shippers and, of course, is making oil prices skyrocket everywhere around the world.
BERMAN: Sabrina Singh, thank you so much for your help on this this morning with these major breaking developments -- Sara.
SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John. Thank you, Sabrina, as well.
On this 25th anniversary of the deadliest terror attacks to ever befall the United States, we are remembering the sacrifice of New York's bravest. And that remains an open wound -- a legacy of unimaginable courage carried by every firefighter who survived that day.
For FDNY firefighter Joe Esposito, that grief is devastatingly personal. His unit, Rescue Company 5, lost 11 brothers that morning. But in the dark days that followed at ground zero, Esposito and his crew set aside their heartbreak to answer the call to serve.
CNN's Lee Waldman brings us his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE "JOJO" ESPOSITO, RESCUE COMPANY 5, NEW YORK CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT: I was either at the Trade Center, at the firehouse, or we were at a funeral, and that's what my life was.
LEE WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): For months after the towers of the World Trade Center fell, life for firefighter Joe Esposito changed.
ESPOSITO: Every day was just a lot of pressure on us, especially when you come home and you've got to face the families. Did you find them yet? No. That was the tough part.
WALDMAN (voiceover): It was a heartbreak his own family was facing. Esposito's older brother, Michael Esposito, and his cousin, Frank Esposito, both firefighters, were killed alongside 341 others. Esposito's own firehouse, Rescue Company 5, lost 11 members.
ESPOSITO: Captain Louis Modaferri, his lieutenant Harvey Harrell, And these are all firemen.
WALDMAN (voiceover): Their Staten Island station is a working memorial dedicated to their lives and the heroism of their entire department.
ESPOSITO: It's something that you -- you know, you learn to love and learn to be that fireman to say, you know, somebody needs me. I'm going in.
WALDMAN (voiceover): At Ground Zero, the 9/11 memorial and museum honors their lives and the thousands of others killed that day.
