Prosecutor says 2 Iranian men scouted a UK synagogue for a chlorine bomb plot

Two Iranian men, Salam Ahmadyan, 36, and Rahman Salehi, 34, were apprehended for allegedly scouting two Jewish locations in Manchester for a planned chlorine bomb attack earlier this year, according to a prosecutor. The pair were observed conducting a "hostile reconnaissance within Manchester’s Jewish community" and were directed by a third individual believed to be located in Iran, who coordinated their plans and provided instructions on constructing a homemade chlorine bomb.

Ahmadyan and Salehi were arrested last month and charged with engaging in conduct related to terrorist acts. They appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court without entering a plea and were remanded in custody until their next court date on October 23 at the Central Criminal Court in London. The Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue, where a deadly attack occurred on Yom Kippur in 2025, killing two and injuring three others, served as one of the targets in their plot.

Ahmadyan and Salehi entered the United Kingdom illegally through the English Channel in the past six years, with Salehi granted asylum while Ahmadyan is currently awaiting a decision on his own asylum claim. Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator of counterterror policing, stated that the alleged plot was isolated and did not pose an ongoing threat to the public, also noting that it was unrelated to a suspected terror plot at the U.S.-run RAF Fairford air base.

She acknowledged that the news of the alleged plot during the High Holy Day period and the anniversary of the Heaton Park synagogue attack had caused significant concern among the Jewish community, which has already been experiencing an increase in antisemitic incidents in the U.K.