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Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2200 GMT, April 13

Xinhua
| April 14, 2026
2026-04-14

BEIRUT -- Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem declared Monday that the militant group rejects direct talks with Israel and will continue its "resistance" as ambassadors from Lebanon and Israel prepared for talks in Washington.

"We will stay on the battlefield until our last breath," Qassem said in a televised speech on al-Manar TV. (Lebanon-Hezbollah-Israel)

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TEHRAN -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has vowed to use new military capabilities if the war with the United States and Israel continues, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday.

"We have not yet used our capabilities, and if the war continues, we will unveil capabilities that the enemy has no idea about," IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi said. (Iran-IRGC-Military Capabilities)

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JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the ceasefire between the United States, Iran and Israel might end "within a very short period of time," Israeli media reported.

During a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu told ministers that the fragile two-week ceasefire "might reverse" very quickly. (Israel-Iran-Ceasefire)

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TEHRAN -- Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, has said that if the security of Iranian ports in the country's southern waters is threatened, no port in the Gulf or the Sea of Oman will be safe, according to the official news agency IRNA.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the headquarters' spokesman, issued the warning on Monday, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump, in reaction to the failure of the peace talks between the Iranian and U.S. delegations in Pakistan, said in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. Navy would begin blocking ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz. (Iran-Strait of Hormuz-Port) Enditem

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