UK prosecutor: two Iranians scouted Manchester synagogue for chlorine bomb attack

Two Iranian nationals living in Britain appeared in court on Saturday, 3 October, charged with “preparation of terrorist acts”. The prosecutor in the case says the two had scouted Heaton Park synagogue and the Manchester Jewish Museum for an attack with a homemade chlorine bomb. It is the same synagogue that was the target of a deadly attack a year ago.

According to the Associated Press, the two defendants are Salam Ahmadian, 36, of Liverpool, and Rahman Salehi, 34, of Salford. Mark Lockett, the prosecutor, told the court that a third person, believed to be in Iran, had coordinated the plans and given them instructions for making a chlorine bomb. He said the two had been seen carrying out “hostile reconnaissance” in a Jewish neighbourhood of Manchester.

Arrested on Yom Kippur

According to the Times of Israel, the two men were arrested on 20 September, as Yom Kippur began, and were formally charged on Friday, 2 October. Prosecutors also say they had obtained the materials needed to make the bomb. The judge ordered the defendants to remain in custody until their next hearing at the Central Criminal Court in London, known as the Old Bailey, on 23 October.

Vicky Evans, senior national coordinator for UK Counter Terrorism Policing, said police regard the plot as separate from other cases and that there is no continuing threat to the public. Shabana Mahmood, the British home secretary, said the two had reached Britain from Europe by small boat several years ago. According to her, one of them had been granted asylum, while the other's asylum claim was still being processed. She added that Britain faces a range of serious threats from the Islamic Republic.

According to the prosecutor, a person believed to be in Iran had given the two defendants instructions for making a chlorine bomb.

A year after the attack on the same synagogue

Heaton Park synagogue was attacked on 2 October 2025, during Yom Kippur services. The attacker, a British citizen of Syrian origin, rammed his car into the synagogue's gate and stabbed one of the worshippers to death. Police shot him dead, and another worshipper was killed by an accidental police shot.

British police have said concerns were heightened during the Jewish holidays and the anniversary of that attack. In the reports DIAR reviewed, there was no reaction from the Islamic Republic to the case.

Sources

• ABC News / Associated Press
• Times of Israel