70,000 Iranian students 'volunteer to carry out suicide bombings in Israel'

Mr President Obama, welcome to reality...

Five hard-line student groups and a conservative clerical group launched the registration drive for suicide bombers last week and asked the government to allow them to stage the attacks.

In an open letter to Mr Ahmadinejad, the students said "volunteer student suicide groups ... are determined to go to Gaza. You are expected to issue orders to the relevant authorities to pave the way for such action".

The hard-liners started signing up volunteers after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a religious decree on Dec 28 saying that anyone killed while defending Palestinians in Gaza against Israeli attacks would be considered a martyr.

Ayatollah Khamenei's religious decree was not considered a government decision and did not oblige the government to launch attacks against Israel.