President Donald Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 in the Oval Office on Friday, September 18, giving the White House a sweeping new set of economic tools. The measure, designated H.R. 5334, is aimed at one goal: raising the cost of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The law authorizes and expands sanctions, tariffs and prohibitions on Russia, and it extends existing sanctions on Iran. It also sanctions Vladimir Putin personally, along with other Russian officials, banks, and a shadow fleet of tankers that helps Russia move energy around existing restrictions.
The centerpiece is tariff authority. The president may impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas. Countries that import less than 15 percent of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce them are exempt. Fox News also reported that the bill allows tariffs of up to 500 percent on Russian imports.
The bill carries the name of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who championed it for more than a year before his sudden death in July. Graham did not live to see it finished, but his name now sits on one of the most consequential foreign policy statutes of Trump’s second term.
Congress sent the bill to the president by wide margins, 86 to 11 in the Senate and 262 to 159 in the House. The Senate acted in early August, and the House followed this month. Consensus like that is rare in a Washington that agrees on little else.
The path to the president’s desk was not entirely smooth. Trump had been reluctant to sanction Moscow because he saw it as an obstacle to negotiations, but he grew more supportive as the war dragged on. Changes were needed to win White House sign-off.
Trump gave the bill his nod after it included his push for a five-year extension of existing Iran sanctions. Those measures target Iran’s energy and weapons sectors and were set to expire at the end of this year. The extension fits the administration’s maximum-pressure approach toward Tehran.
Rep. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who led the House effort, made the case for tariffs plainly. He argued that Russia has evaded sanctions for years, but that “you cannot evade tariffs.” That logic explains why the tariff provisions matter more than another round of financial designations.
The vote also carried some irony. Fox News reported that Democrats handed Trump a power the left has long raged against. Rep. Richard Neal and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries objected to giving the president more tariff authority and complained about loopholes in the bill. Plenty of Democrats voted for it anyway.
Reps. Jared Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, both Democrats, defied their party leaders to help Republicans rescue the package from dying in a rule vote amid a conservative rebellion over an unrelated issue. Without them, the bill could have stalled on the House floor.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat who helped write the bill, led Democratic support in the Senate. He told Fox News Digital that the courts would restrain Trump if he broke the law. That is a fair reminder that the tariff power comes with legal guardrails.
The law also gives the president room to maneuver. It provides waiver authority under specified conditions, including a certification to Congress that a waiver serves the national interest. It does not automatically impose a 100 percent tariff on any specific country. A credible threat, held in reserve, is often more useful at the bargaining table than a blunt instrument.
The shadow fleet provision deserves attention. These are often aging vessels with opaque ownership that let Moscow keep selling oil at near-market prices. The new law gives the administration tools to go after them directly, closing a gap that earlier sanctions rounds left open.
The biggest question is who ends up in the crosshairs. China and India, the two largest buyers of Russian crude, are widely seen as the countries most exposed to any future duties. India’s government has said it will not compromise on its energy security or trade interests.
Europe has its own uncomfortable questions to answer. Fox News has highlighted reporting that European money still flows to Moscow even as NATO races to bolster its defenses. If allies want Washington to keep leading on Ukraine, they will have to show more resolve on energy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Trump for signing the bill. He said the best way to honor Graham’s memory would be to implement the law fully and swiftly, and he pointed to countries that keep buying Russian oil or offering financial services to Moscow.
Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, told Breitbart, “I wish Lindsey were here to celebrate this historic day.” She succeeded her brother in the Senate.
