PDB Afternoon Bulletin | June 22nd, 2026: U.S. & Iran Establish Lebanon “Deconfliction Cell” & Starmer Steps Down

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**Mike Baker** (0:42)
It's Monday, the 22nd of June. Welcome to The PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker from Your Eyes and Ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, the US and Iran have reportedly agreed to create a new mechanism aimed at preventing the war in Lebanon from sinking the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed just the other day. We'll have those details. Later in the show, the revolving door at number 10 Downing Street continues. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is stepping down after less than two years in office. If you're keeping score at home, that's six prime ministers in a decade. We'll explain what brought down the labor leader and what may be next for British politics. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.
US and Iranian negotiators wrapped up their first full day of talks in Switzerland on Sunday with what's being referred to as a deconfliction mechanism meant to prevent the Lebanon issue from tanking the memorandum of understanding, the MOU. Now, depending on your level of cynicism, one could argue that having the Israel-Hezbollah conflict as a major roadblock in the negotiations is exactly what the Iranian regime intended when they demanded that Lebanon be included in the MOU terms. The mechanism was announced by mediators Qatar and Pakistan. It's designed to prevent the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-controlled Hezbollah from derailing the broader U.S.-Iran talks. According to a joint statement, the de-confliction cell will include representatives from the US., Iran and Lebanon. Noticeably Israel is not part of this process, and notably the government of Lebanon doesn't speak for Hezbollah. The Iranian regime, of course, speaks for Hezbollah, which makes this whole process somewhat bizarre. The parties have also established a dedicated communication channel intended to reduce understandings, clarify alleged ceasefire violations and prevent incidents from escalating into larger crises. Now, if that sounds familiar, it's because negotiators are attempting to address the very issue that we discussed on this morning's PDB. As we noted earlier, Lebanon has emerged as the poison pill inside the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding. The basic problem is relatively simple. The agreement ties progress in U.S.-Iran relations to a ceasefire in Lebanon. The trouble is that Washington does not directly control one of the principal combatants in that conflict, that of course would be Israel. Iran, meanwhile, maintains significant influence over Hezbollah. Over the weekend, we got a preview of exactly how problematic that arrangement can become. Tehran cited the continued fighting in Lebanon as justification for once again claiming that they closed the Strait of Hormuz, a move that threatened one of the central pillars of the agreement before follow-on negotiations had even gotten underway.
The new deconfliction cell appears to be an attempt to prevent that sort of crisis from repeating itself. Now, deconfliction mechanisms have been used successfully in other conflicts. The US and Russia maintained military communications channels in Syria to prevent accidental clashes between their forces. And Israel operated a similar arrangement with Moscow for years. The theory is straightforward. If everyone can communicate quickly, misunderstandings can be resolved before they spiral into something larger. The problem is that Lebanon isn't Syria. The US and Russia weren't actively trying to kill one another. Israel and Hezbollah are. And again, the IRGC wields significant influence over Hezbollah. If the IRGC instructed Hezbollah to stand down, to not attack Israel, then that would be the de-confliction mechanism that would actually work. But it does serve the Iranian regime's objectives to have this leverage over the negotiations.
Now, one country, as mentioned, is conspicuously absent from the arrangement, and that would be Israel. The Israeli government has already emphasized that it's not a signatory to the memorandum of understanding and is not participating in the negotiations taking place in Switzerland. When asked about the new mechanism, a spokesman for Prime Minister Netanyahu's office pointedly noted that Israel is not a party to either the agreement or the talks, and that is a fairly important detail. After all, if the goal is to prevent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah from derailing the broader peace process, having one of the two combatants outside the mechanism prevents an obvious challenge.