A prosecutor told a London court that two Iranian men carried out surveillance for a plot to bomb a Manchester synagogue using a homemade chlorine bomb.
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Salam Ahmadyan, 36, and Rahman Salehi, 34, were arrested last month and charged Friday with engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts, a prosecutor said during a court appearance in Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The prosecutor said the men conducted research targeting the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester and the Jewish Museum in nearby Cheetham Hill. The court heard the pair were observed carrying out what the prosecutor described as a hostile reconnaissance within Manchester’s Jewish community.
Prosecutor Mark Luckett said the two defendants were directed by a third person believed to be in Iran, who coordinated plans and provided instructions for making a homemade chlorine bomb.
Judge Nina Tempia ordered Ahmadyan and Salehi held until an Oct. 23 appearance at the Central Criminal Court in London, where neither entered a plea during Friday’s appearance.
The Heaton Park synagogue was the site of an attack on Yom Kippur, on Oct. 2, 2025, when Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, crashed his car into the gates and then began a knife attack while wearing a fake suicide belt. Congregation members Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, died in the attack, and three other men were seriously wounded.
The court heard that Al-Shamie was killed by police and that he allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
The court also heard that Ahmadyan and Salehi entered the U.K. without authorization within the past six years after crossing the English Channel by boat. Salehi was granted asylum, while Ahmadyan has a pending asylum claim.
Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator of counterterror policing, said the plot was believed to be isolated and that there was no ongoing public threat. She also said the alleged plot was unconnected to a suspected terror plot at U.S.-run RAF Fairford air base, which some officials have said was linked to Tehran.
Evans said the timing of the alleged plot during the High Holy Day period had caused concern and coincided with the anniversary of the 2025 Heaton Park attack. She said it also came amid increasing antisemitic incidents across the U.K., which she said would heighten concerns among the Jewish community.
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