The suspects appeared in Westminster Magistrates’ Court Saturday, where neither entered a plea, the Associated Press reported. The judge ordered them held until an Oct. 23 appearance at the Central Criminal Court in London.
The arrests come nearly a year after a deadly knife and gun attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in northern Manchester, where worshipers had gathered for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Two people died in that Oct. 2, 2025, attack.
U.K. Metropolitan Police said in a news release that 36-year-old Salam Ahmadyan of Liverpool and 34-year-old Rahman Salehi of Salford, both Iranian nationals, were arrested in Manchester on Sept. 20.
“It is alleged that the two men were in contact with an overseas third-party who may be in Iran in relation to the plot,” the Met wrote.
The Associated Press reported that the third party provided instructions on making a homemade chlorine bomb.
“We do not believe there to be any ongoing threat to the public in relation to this matter,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans said in a statement.
“This news will be deeply distressing for our Jewish communities, coming so soon after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” British Home Minister Shabana Mahmood said in a statement. “I know this will be especially true in Manchester, as we mark one year since the terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue.”
Mahmood also added in her statement that “both suspects” had “arrived by small boat several years ago,” which she said was a “reminder of the importance of our relentless work to tackle illegal migration into this country.” Salehi was granted asylum and Ahmadyan has a pending asylum claim, the Associated Press reported.
The past year has seen a spate of attacks in the British capital targeting Jewish or Israel-linked locations.
This also comes after five British nationals, all men in their mid-20s, were arrested on Sept. 27 in a southwest English village near the British air force base RAF Fairford on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. The base has been used by American bombers to launch attacks on Iran during the war in the Middle East. The men were later released on bail.
On Thursday, British authorities arrested a 25-year-old dual U.K.-Iranian national in London on suspicion of plotting a terror attack near the RAF Fairford air base. He was also released on bail Saturday, the U.K. Counter Terrorism Policing agency announced, according to The AP.
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that the British government believes Iran “played a part” in the Sept. 27 incident. Iran’s government has denied any involvement.
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