LONDON, Oct 2 (Reuters) – British police said on Friday that they had charged two Iranian nationals with preparing a terrorist attack against the Jewish community in northern England on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Rahman Salehi, 35, and Salam Ahmadyan, 36, have been charged with preparing to commit an act of terrorism or assisting another to commit at act of terrorism on Friday, the anniversary of a fatal attack on a Manchester synagogue last year.
The two men had allegedly been in contact with an overseas third-party who might be in Iran in relation to the plot, police said. The pair will appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday.
Counter terrorism detectives said there was no connection with a separate suspected plot involving the RAF Fairford air base used by the US to target Iran, over which a dual UK-Iranian national was arrested on Thursday.
Vicki Evans from Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) said in a statement: “While this incident and the investigation into the RAF Fairford incident are not connected in any way, I want to reassure the public that CTP, working with our national security partners, are using the full range of our capabilities to protect the UK from any hostile acts.”
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Michael Holden and Rosalba O’Brien)
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