Iranians charged over alleged plot targeting Manchester Jews

Counter-terrorism officers from the Metropolitan Police in London moved onto Newton Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on Sunday, 20 September 2026, and arrested two men. Salam Ahmadyan, 36, of Liverpool, and Rahman Salehi, 34, of Salford, both Iranian nationals, were taken into custody. The date was the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

The pair were removed from the street and transferred to a London police station. For nearly two weeks the investigation stayed out of open court, the public record holding only the names, the ages, the Northern Quarter address, and the timing of the swoop.

On Saturday, 3 October, Salam Ahmadyan and Rahman Salehi stood in the dock of court five at Westminster Magistrates’ Court before District Judge Nina Tempia. Both men wore grey tracksuits. Ahmadyan spoke only through a Farsi interpreter; Salehi spoke only through a Kurdish interpreter. Each confirmed his name, date of birth and address. Neither was asked for a plea.

They had been charged the day before. On Friday, 2 October, the Crown Prosecution Service placed them under a single count of engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts, contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006. Frank Ferguson, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, authorised the case after a fast-paced investigation and warned that the proceedings were now active. Judge Tempia remanded both men into custody. The next hearing was fixed for 23 October at the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey.

The charge named the statute and the date on or before which the conduct was said to have occurred. What the preparation was alleged to have involved, and against whom it was said to have been directed, had not yet been read into open court.

When the charge came to be opened in court five, prosecutor Mark Luckett supplied the detail the statute alone had withheld. He told Judge Nina Tempia that the two men had been observed carrying out “a hostile reconnaissance within Manchester’s Jewish community.” The targets he named were the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue and the Jewish Museum in Cheetham Hill.

Luckett then set out how the alleged attack was said to have been organised. The pair were “in contact with a third party who is alleged to have directed and coordinated the planned attack and provided instructions on how to assemble a home-made explosive device.” On that third party he added a direct assessment. “It is assessed this individual is also an Iranian national and most likely operating from within Iran,” Luckett said.

The instructions were fixed on the charge sheet by one acquired document. Its title read: ‘Steps for Making [a] Powder Chlorine and Car Brake Oil/Fluid Bomb.’

Beyond the single document already fixed on the charge sheet, the particulars listed the rest of the alleged preparation step by step. The two men were said to have communicated through encrypted applications to acquire components for a homemade explosive device, obtained video material on manufacturing and assembling an improvised explosive device, and acquired liquids, components and equipment. They were also alleged to have used the internet to identify and research potential targets, acquired images, plans and maps of those targets, and conducted reconnaissance of the locations.

Officers completed searches at an address on Epworth Street in Liverpool and at a hostel on Lancaster Road in Salford. Warrants of further detention obtained on 22 September and again on 26 September kept both men in custody as late as 4 October. Ahmadyan had arrived in Britain by small boat in 2023; his asylum claim remained pending. Salehi had crossed by small boat in 2020 after five years in Germany, been granted asylum, and held leave to remain until 2028.

Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, described the work that produced the charges. “This has been a long-running proactive investigation which has led to the disruption of what we believe to be a plot to target the Jewish community in the Manchester area.” The statement landed as the High Holy Days continued and the calendar turned toward the first anniversary of an attack already fixed at one of the named sites.

That attack had taken place on 2 October 2025. Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, drove a car into the gates of Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue and then attacked worshippers with a knife while wearing a fake suicide belt. He was killed by police. He had allegedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

The new charges arrived on the calendar anniversary and inside the High Holy Day period. Vicki Evans spoke to the timing. “We are acutely aware this news will cause further concern to the Jewish community, as well as the wider public, especially given the significant High Holy Day period.” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood called the news “deeply distressing” to Manchester’s Jewish community as the city marked that first year. She said the fact both suspects had arrived by small boat several years earlier was a reminder of the importance of work on border security, and that efforts to protect Jewish communities, root out antisemitism, and maintain that security would be unrelenting.

Five British men aged 23 to 25 were arrested at gunpoint near RAF Fairford on 27 September after a farmer reported masked men and three vans. Explosives and chemicals were found inside. They were not viable. All five were released on bail.

A sixth suspect, a 25-year-old dual UK-Iranian national, was arrested in London and released on bail on 3 October after searches at two properties there. Police stressed that the Manchester Jewish-community case was unconnected. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were strong indications of Iranian involvement at Fairford. President Donald Trump said of the releases: “I'm surprised that they released them. I wouldn't have done that. Look, they've been very good. They're working with us very closely. We know everything about them. We would not have released them.” On Fox News on 28 September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “It's one that clearly involves the hand of a foreign actor.” British Counterterrorism Police stated: “The investigation into the circumstances surrounding events in Gloucestershire is continuing.”

Greater Manchester Police Deputy Chief Constable Terry Woods said the force was working with community leaders and the Community Security Trust on ongoing robust local plans. The public could expect continued officer visibility for engagement and security in Greater Manchester’s Jewish areas.