Two Iranian nationals are now in custody in the United Kingdom, suspected of plotting an attack with a homemade chlorine bomb on the Jewish community of Manchester. It comes as no surprise that the two accused arrived in Britain in one of the notorious "small boat" incursions, and were allowed to remain.
The two were arrested on September 20, and were brought before a magistrate on Saturday; neither entered a plea.
Two Iranian men have been charged with plotting a terror attack on the Jewish community in Manchester, British police said Friday.
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.
This comes near to the first anniversary of an attack on a Jewish community in the northern city of Manchester, and near the 3rd anniversary of the deadly terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. What's different about this attempt is the alleged plan to employ what we can only describe as a chemical weapon. Chlorine gas exposure, as the entire world learned to its horror in the Great War, affects the respiratory system, causing chemical burns, difficulty breathing, a painful, racking cough, and possible permanent lung damage and pulmonary edema.
Furthermore, the two accused were reportedly in contact with someone in another country — possibly in Iran.
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.
Need we point out the danger that Britain's permissive immigration policies have now put the British people in? These two accused, Salam Ahmadyan and Rahman Salehi, came into the United Kingdom as "refugees," it seems certain; the report mentions that they arrived by "small boat."
(British Home Minister Shabana) 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.
There are, at present, more or less 114,000 Iranian nationals living in the United Kingdom. We're not immune to this here, either. As of last count, there were 750,000 Iranian nationals in the United States, including both legal and illegal residents. Iran remains, mind, the world's foremost state sponsor of Islamic terrorism. More than 700 Iranian nationals entered the United States during the Biden administration, and were allowed to remain.
Now, it's only fair to point out that some of these people are legitimate refugees, people who fled Iran fearing arrest for taking part in protests against the regime; I have spoken to a number of people meeting that description, people who are hoping the United States can help them take their country back.
But if we've learned one thing from this incident in Manchester, it is that it only takes a few bad actors to cause a horror.