LONDON — Two Iranian men carried out surveillance of a Manchester synagogue that was attacked a year ago as part of a plan to bomb the site this year, prosecutors said Saturday.
Salam Ahmadyan, 36, and Rahman Salehi, 34, researched attacks on the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue and the Jewish Museum in nearby Cheetham Hill, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
The pair were arrested last month and charged Friday with preparing terrorist acts. Neither entered a plea; Judge Nina Tempia remanded them in custody until an Oct. 23 hearing at the Central Criminal Court in London.
Prosecutor Mark Luckett said the men were directed by a third individual believed to be in Iran, who coordinated the plot and provided instructions for building a homemade chlorine bomb.
“A hostile reconnaissance within Manchester’s Jewish community” was conducted by the defendants, Luckett added.
The Heaton Park synagogue was targeted on Yom Kippur, Oct. 2, 2025, when Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, crashed his car through the gates and launched a knife attack while wearing a fake suicide belt. Congregation members Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed; three others were seriously wounded. Al-Shamie, who allegedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was shot dead by police.
Ahmadyan and Salehi entered the UK without authorization within the past six years after crossing the English Channel by boat. Salehi has asylum; Ahmadyan’s claim is pending.
Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator of counterterror policing, said the plot appeared isolated with no ongoing public threat and was unconnected to a suspected terror plot at U.S.-run RAF Fairford. She noted the allegations surface during the High Holy Days and the anniversary of last year’s attack, amid rising antisemitic incidents in the UK, heightening community concerns.
