Iranian Paper Calls 9/11 'the Beginning of America's End,' Uses 'Questionable' Illustration

An Iranian newspaper marked the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks with a controversial front-page illustration on Saturday calling it "The beginning of America's end."

According to BBC journalist Kian Sharifi, the Iranian paper Vatan-e Emruz used a "questionable" image and headline to discuss the 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 civilians and first responders in the U.S.

Sharifi tweeted on Saturday: "Iranian hardline newspaper Vatan-e Emruz marks the 20th anniversary of the #September11 attacks with a questionable front-page cartoon titled "Demise". The headline in red reads: "9/11: The beginning of America's end.'"

The paper's illustration shows Uncle Sam's severed legs as the twin towers of the World Trade Center, with smoke billowing from them and an airplane in the distance.

The controversial front page comes on the two-decade anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks, when four commercial planes were hijacked by the radical Islamist group Al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, and crashed into three locations in the U.S.

One plane was flown into the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., two others were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, and a fourth crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In total, 2,977 people were killed and thousands more were injured. A majority of those who died, or 2,753, were killed in New York.

The horrifying attacks led the U.S. to initiate a "war on terror" to destroy Al-Qaeda and prevent other terrorist groups from forming, leading to military action in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. Last month, President Joe Biden withdrew all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, effectively ending America's longest war.

On Saturday, Biden referred to the 9/11 attacks as an "unspeakable act of cowardice and hatred" before visiting all three locations that were targeted in 2001.

"Twenty years ago, nearly 3,000 lives were cut short by an unspeakable act of cowardice and hatred on 9/11. As a nation, we must never forget those we lost during one of the darkest moments in our history and the enduring pain of their families and loved ones," Biden said in a statement on Twitter.

Other former presidents, including Donald Trump, Barrack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, commemorated the somber day by paying tribute to those who died in the attacks.

"One thing that became clear on 9/11—and has been clear ever since—is that America has always been home to heroes who run towards danger in order to do what is right," Obama said in a statement on Saturday. "9/11 reminded us how so many Americans give of themselves in extraordinary ways—not just in moments of great crisis, but every single day. Let's never forget that, and let's never take them for granted."