Trump Signs Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act Into Law

President Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law Friday, September 18, 2026, honoring the late South Carolina senator who died in July of a torn aorta shortly after returning from a trip to Ukraine, where he had championed tougher sanctions on Moscow. The bill cleared the Senate 86-11 on August 7 and the House 262-159 on September 16 before reaching Trump's desk. It gives the president authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that buy Russian crude oil or natural gas or otherwise help Russia evade sanctions — a provision aimed chiefly at China and India, the two largest remaining buyers of Russian energy — while also targeting Russian officials, financial institutions, defense-related networks and the 'shadow fleet' of tankers used to move sanctioned oil, and extending the Iran Sanctions Act for five years. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the law as an important tool to pressure Russia toward peace.