A court has heard that two Iranian men who entered the UK in small boats allegedly identified Manchester’s Jewish Museum and Heaton Park Synagogue as possible targets in a planned bombing around Yom Kippur.
Salam Ahmadyan, 36, from Liverpool, and 34-year-old Rahman Salehi, from Salford, were arrested in Manchester on September 20. Counter Terrorism Policing said they were charged on Friday with preparing to carry out terrorist acts.
Prosecutors told the court that the men had allegedly been communicating with a third party abroad, possibly in Iran, in connection with the suspected plot.
They are accused of receiving instructions to produce a chlorine bomb and obtaining the liquids, components and equipment allegedly needed to build or assemble an improvised explosive device.
The pair also allegedly used the internet to investigate potential targets, collect photographs, plans and maps, and carry out reconnaissance of locations that could have been attacked.
The sites named included Manchester’s Jewish Museum and Heaton Park Synagogue. The synagogue was targeted in a terror attack on Yom Kippur last year, in an incident that killed two worshippers, the court heard.
Detectives investigating the allegations also searched properties in Epworth Street, Liverpool, and Lancaster Road, Salford.
Ahmadyan and Salehi appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday morning. Salehi spoke through a Kurdish interpreter, while Ahmadyan used a Farsi interpreter, with both confirming their names, dates of birth and addresses.
Police guarded a Manchester address after the men were arrested on September 20 over an alleged terror plot targeting the city’s Jewish community as Yom Kippur began
District Judge Nina Tempia remanded both defendants in custody. They are due to appear at the Old Bailey on October 23.
Prosecutor Mark Luckett told the court that both men were accused of preparing terrorist acts against Manchester’s Jewish community using a homemade explosive device.
He said the prosecution alleged that they had carried out “hostile reconnaissance” within the city’s Jewish community, including identifying potential targets such as the Jewish Museum and Heaton Park Synagogue.
The men were arrested on September 20, 2026, shortly before Yom Kippur, which is widely recognised as the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Mr Luckett also alleged that the defendants had been in contact with a third party who directed and coordinated the proposed attack and gave instructions on assembling a homemade explosive device.
The suspected contact is believed to be an Iranian national who was most likely operating from Iran, he added.
The court heard that Salehi entered the UK by small boat in 2020, after previously seeking asylum in Germany, where he had spent five years.
He was granted asylum in the UK in 2023 and currently has permission to remain in the country until July 2028.
Ahmadyan arrived in the UK by small boat in 2023 and has an asylum application that remains outstanding, the court was told.
The charges were brought less than a week after an alleged plot at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, where six people have so far been arrested. Police have said the two cases are unrelated.
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Earlier this week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were “strong indications” that Iran was involved in the events. Tehran has denied the claims.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘These recent events are a stark reminder of the threats posed against this country.
‘Two suspects have been charged with planning a terrorist attack against Jewish communities in Manchester.
‘This news will be deeply distressing for our Jewish communities, coming so soon after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
‘I know this will be especially true in Manchester, as we mark one year since the terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue.
‘The fact both suspects arrived by small boat several years ago is a reminder of the importance of our relentless work to tackle illegal migration into this country. While numbers are down, I know there is more we must do.’
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, CTP senior national co-ordinator, said they do not believe there to be any ongoing threat to the public in relation to the arrests.
She said: ‘I’m aware that the news of this alleged plot coming during the High Holy Day period has caused a great deal of concern to the Jewish community, as well as with the wider public.
‘It also coincides with the anniversary of the devastating terrorist attack last year at Heaton Park synagogue and comes in a wider context of increasing antisemitic incidents across the UK, so we are very aware that this will likely increase what were already heightened concerns amongst the Jewish community.
‘While this incident and the investigation into the RAF Fairford incident are not connected in any way, I want to reassure the public that CTP, working with our national security partners, are using the full range of our capabilities to protect the UK from any hostile acts.’
Greater Manchester Police’s deputy chief constable Terry Woods said: ‘We know how concerning this news will be to Jewish communities in Greater Manchester, and beyond.
‘We know this is particularly acute on the calendar anniversary of last year’s terrorist atrocity at the Heaton Park synagogue and during the Jewish High Holy Days.
‘We continue to work hand in glove locally with community leaders, the Community Security Trust and our local policing teams and nationally with Counter Terrorism Police London which have been leading this investigation.
‘Our ongoing and robust policing plans within the Jewish communities will endure, and the public can expect to see continued visibility with officers providing engagement and security.’
The pair’s arrests came almost 12 months after knife-wielding Islamic State supporter Jihad Al-Shamie tried to force his way into the Heaton Park Synagogue on October 2 last year during Yom Kippur.
Al-Shamie – who was wearing a fake suicide belt and rang 999 during his attack saying ‘I have killed two Jews in the name of Islamic State’ – had already stabbed Mr Cravitz, 66.
As a police marksman fired his Glock pistol at the terrorist, an inquest earlier this month heard how one round fatally struck Mr Daulby, 53, who was bravely helping to barricade the doors.
That round also hit 39-year-old Yoni Finlay, who survived.
