Mike Baker

It's Monday, the 22nd of June.

Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.

All right, let's get briefed.

First up, the U.S.

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 No.

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 Labour leader and what may be next for British politics.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

U.S.

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 deconfliction cell will include representatives from the U.S., Iran, and Lebanon.

Noticeably, Israel is not part of this process, and notably, the government of Lebanon doesn't speak for Hezbollah.