Salam Ahmadyan and Rahman Salehi
Introduction
Salam Ahmadyan, 36, and Rahman Salehi, 34, are Iranian nationals living in northwest England who were charged on October 2, 2026 with preparing terrorist acts over an alleged plot targeting the Jewish community in Manchester on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. According to Britain’s counter-terrorism police, the two men are accused of acquiring homemade explosive materials, researching potential targets and conducting reconnaissance — allegations that have not been tested in court and that both men, remanded in custody, are due to answer at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Background Information
Ahmadyan was based in Liverpool and Salehi lived in Salford, near Manchester. Both men are reported to have entered Britain illegally by crossing the Channel in migrant-smuggling small boats — the Home Secretary said they arrived “several years ago,” and reporting citing government understanding places the arrivals in 2020 and 2023, with one man since granted asylum and the other holding a live asylum claim. Their alleged plot coincided with the one-year anniversary of the Islamist terror attack at Manchester’s Heaton Park Synagogue, which left two worshippers dead.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged, not adjudicated. Ahmadyan and Salehi each face a charge of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, filed by British counter-terrorism prosecutors. Neither has entered a plea, no trial has begun, and nothing has been proven in court. The allegations below are unproven unless and until a court convicts them, and both men are presumed innocent.
They were arrested on September 20, 2026 — the day before Yom Kippur — by counter-terrorism police in Manchester. According to the police statement cited by the New York Post, the two are accused of acquiring homemade explosive materials using encrypted messaging apps, as well as a document titled “Steps for Making [a] Powder Chlorine and Car Brake Oil/Fluid Bomb.” Authorities further allege the pair obtained images, plans and maps of potential targets and conducted reconnaissance operations at possible locations, and that they were in contact with a third party, possibly in Iran, in relation to the plot. No attack occurred, and the charging documents allege preparation rather than any completed act.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The charges were announced on a Friday carrying heavy symbolism in Manchester’s calendar: one year after the synagogue attack and immediately after the High Holidays. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “This news will be deeply distressing for our Jewish communities, coming so soon after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,” adding she knew it would be “especially true in Manchester, as we mark one year since the terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue.” Both men were remanded in custody to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, October 3. The New York Post’s main X account flagged the charges to its followers minutes after its article went up.
The announcement landed hours after a separate arrest: a 25-year-old Iranian national detained in London over an alleged plot targeting RAF Fairford, a base used by the US Air Force, after five British nationals were found with suspected explosives in vans near the base — later determined to be gasoline — and released on bail. The two cases are being treated as unrelated, but Britain’s senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, said the events had “brought into sharp focus some of the wider threats being projected into the UK from Iran.” Iran’s embassy in London fiercely denied involvement in the Fairford incident; it had issued no response to the Manchester charges as of this writing.
Current Status
Ahmadyan and Salehi remain in custody ahead of their October 3 appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, and neither has entered a plea. The alleged contact with a third party possibly in Iran remains an element of the prosecution’s case that has not been tested. As of this writing neither man has any public defense statement, attorney comment, or online presence addressing the charges, and the case proceeds on the charge date alone — trial dates and plea decisions were not yet public.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Both men’s lives in Britain — one anchored by granted asylum, the other by a live claim — are now suspended by custody, and the charge carries a potential life sentence on conviction under the Terrorism Act’s preparation offence. Beyond the courtroom, the case has attached their names to the most community-sensitive date on Manchester’s calendar a year after the Heaton Park attack, feeding a national political fight over Channel crossings and Iranian-linked security threats in the UK. Whatever the court’s eventual finding, the alleged plot has already hardened security attention on Britain’s Jewish institutions during the High Holiday season.