Trump signs Russia and Iran sanctions bill into law, honoring late Sen. Lindsey Graham's legacy

President Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law Friday, delivering sweeping new sanctions authority that targets Russian energy exports and renews pressure on Tehran, over the objections of House Democrats who fought the bill's tariff provisions.

The White House announced the signing after the legislation cleared both chambers with lopsided bipartisan margins: 86, 11 in the Senate and 262, 159 in the House. The law, named for the late South Carolina Republican who championed it, authorizes the Trump administration to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the top five countries purchasing Russian crude oil or natural gas, a direct strike at the revenue stream funding Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. It also extends existing sanctions on Iran's energy and weapons sectors that were set to expire later this year.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who led the House floor effort, framed the bill in stark terms during Wednesday's debate. McCaul told colleagues the legislation would force Putin to the negotiating table and check his ambitions against Eastern Europe.

"Evil is on the march, history is calling, and now is the time to act."

McCaul also invoked Graham's own words about the legislation, calling it the best way to honor a colleague who did not live to see the bill signed.

"Lindsey Graham once said this bill would be his great achievement. I can think of no better way... to honor his life and his legacy than by passing these tough sanctions."

53 Democrats crossed party lines to back the bill

The House vote split in a way that exposed divisions inside the Democratic caucus. Fifty-three Democrats joined 203 Republicans to pass the legislation, while 152 Democrats and just seven Republicans voted no. Fox News reported that Democratic opposition centered almost entirely on the tariff authority the bill grants Trump, not on the sanctions themselves.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries argued the bill's language did not actually require the president to impose sanctions on Russia. "The manner in which this bill has been written doesn't require the president of the United States to impose sanctions on Russia," Jeffries said. Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts put the Democratic complaint more bluntly: "What we're not for is giving more tariff authority to this president."

That objection tells you where the real Democratic anxiety lies. The sanctions provisions themselves drew broad support across both parties. What Democrats could not stomach was handing Trump another tool in his tariff arsenal, even one aimed squarely at nations bankrolling Putin's military. The pattern is familiar: Democrats have repeatedly objected to Trump policy victories not on substance but on the grounds that the wrong president holds the pen.

The bill authorizes tariffs of up to 500 percent on Russian imports directly and up to 100 percent on the top five countries buying Russian energy, including nations that help Russia evade sanctions. It also sanctions Putin personally and other Russian officials. Those provisions sailed through the Senate with only 11 dissenting votes, a margin that makes the House Democratic opposition look more like political positioning than principled disagreement.

Zelensky thanks Trump and calls for swift enforcement

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the signing with a post on X, praising both Trump and the late senator whose name the law carries. Zelensky recalled Graham's visits to Ukraine and his insistence that the West maintain pressure on Moscow.

"When Lindsey Graham was here in Ukraine, he would always talk about how important it was not to ease pressure on Russia, to strengthen sanctions and seek a path to peace. In particular, in those capitals that choose to buy Russian oil, provide financial services to Russia, and allow Russian companies linked to Putin and the war to engage in normal business relations in other countries."

Zelensky added that Graham "never doubted for a second that America has enough strength to stand up to dictators and achieve results if it acts THE RIGHT WAY." He thanked Trump directly for signing the legislation and urged rapid implementation.

As Just The News reported, Zelensky also thanked the senators and House members who supported the bill, calling it "critically important" and saying the best way to honor Graham's memory "will be to implement the provisions of this law fully and swiftly."

New law gives Trump leverage Democrats tried to block

The legislation hands the Trump administration a set of tools that go well beyond traditional sanctions. By authorizing tariffs of up to 100 percent on the largest buyers of Russian energy, the law pressures not just Moscow but the third-party nations, including some in Asia and the Middle East, that have kept Russian oil revenue flowing despite earlier rounds of Western penalties. The Washington Examiner noted that the bill also directly sanctions Putin and other Russian officials, a step prior legislation had not taken as broadly.

The Iran provisions are no afterthought. Sanctions on Tehran's energy and weapons sectors were approaching their expiration date. The new law renews them, keeping the pressure on a regime that has used oil revenue to fund proxy conflicts across the Middle East. Bundling Russia and Iran sanctions into a single bill reflected a strategic choice: it forced lawmakers to vote on both adversaries at once, making a "no" vote harder to defend.

Trump has moved aggressively on energy and trade policy throughout his term. His recent announcement to replenish the strategic oil reserves with Venezuelan crude under a separate deal showed a willingness to use energy as a geopolitical lever. The Graham sanctions law extends that approach to punishing Russia's energy customers, not just its producers.

The bill's journey through Congress was remarkably fast by Washington standards. The Senate passed it 86, 11, a vote that crossed party lines decisively. The House followed days later with a comfortable majority despite Democratic leadership whipping against it on tariff grounds. Trump signed it within two days of House passage.

Several open questions remain. The law authorizes tariffs but does not mandate them, which is precisely what Jeffries complained about. How quickly the administration moves to identify and penalize the top buyers of Russian energy will determine whether the legislation carries real bite or sits on the shelf. No specific Russian entities beyond Putin himself have been publicly named as targets under the new provisions.

Trump has faced legal and political resistance on nearly every front this year, from court battles over executive orders to congressional standoffs over spending. But on Russia sanctions, the politics aligned. Graham's death gave the bill a bipartisan emotional weight that made opposition costly, and the substance, punishing Putin's war machine, left Democrats with no credible policy objection. Their complaint boiled down to process and presidential authority, not to the sanctions themselves.

McCaul said the bill would prevent Putin from marching further into Eastern Europe. Whether that proves true depends on enforcement. But the law gives the administration the authority it needs, and the late senator's name on the legislation ensures that any failure to use it will carry a political price.

When 86 senators and 262 House members agree on anything in Washington, the smart bet is that the policy is sound and the opposition is political. Democrats who voted no did not argue that Russia deserved less pressure or that Iran's sanctions should lapse. They argued that Donald Trump should not be trusted with tariff authority, the same president who just signed the bill they could not stop.