President Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law on Friday, capping a bipartisan legislative push that arms the White House with tariff authority of up to 100 percent against the largest buyers of Russian energy.
The White House announced the signing after the bill cleared Congress with lopsided margins in both chambers. The House passed the measure Wednesday in a 262, 159 vote, with 53 Democrats crossing party lines to join 203 Republicans. The Senate had already approved it 86, 11, a margin that left little doubt about where the political center of gravity sits on Russia sanctions heading into the fall.
The law targets Russian oil and gas exports that continue to bankroll Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine. It also renews sanctions on Iran's energy and weapons sectors, provisions set to expire at the end of this year, and grants the Trump administration authority to impose targeted tariffs of up to 100 percent on the top five countries purchasing Russian crude oil or natural gas. Breitbart reported the bill also targets Russia's defense sector and its shadow fleet of oil tankers used to evade existing sanctions.
The bill bears the name of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who championed the legislation before his death in July. Graham had long pressed for tougher economic pressure on Moscow, and the final product reflects his conviction that sanctions, not diplomacy alone, would bring Putin to the table.
Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, who led the fight for passage in the House, framed the vote in unmistakably personal terms. Speaking on the House floor Wednesday, McCaul tied the bill directly to Graham's years of advocacy.
McCaul told colleagues:
"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."
McCaul also said the legislation would force Putin to the negotiating table and keep his ambitions in check, preventing him from marching further into Eastern Europe. His floor remarks carried an urgency that matched the bipartisan vote count.
"Evil is on the march, history is calling, and now is the time to act."
That 262, 159 tally in the House told its own story. Fifty-three Democrats broke with their leadership to support the bill, a notable fracture given that House Democrats had fought hard against a provision granting Trump expanded tariff authority.
The Democratic divide over the bill centered on a specific concern: that the tariff authority granted to Trump could be wielded against Ukraine rather than Russia. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries voiced that objection directly. As Fox News reported, Jeffries argued on the floor that "the manner in which this bill has been written doesn't require the president of the United States to impose sanctions on Russia."
That complaint landed with limited force. More than fifty of Jeffries's own members voted yes anyway, choosing the substance of the sanctions package over the procedural objection about presidential discretion.
The irony is hard to miss. Some of the same Senate Democrats who voted to expand Trump's tariff power inside this very sanctions package have separately asked courts to rein in his trade authority on other fronts, a contradiction that has drawn sharp scrutiny.
Fox News described the final vote as Democrats "begrudgingly" handing Trump a victory on tariffs inside a sprawling sanctions bill. The provision allowing up to 500 percent tariffs on Russian imports and up to 100 percent on the top five buyers of Russian energy gave the White House a set of economic tools that few in the minority party were eager to hand over, but the political cost of voting against Russia sanctions proved steeper.
Individual Democrats who broke ranks on the vote were not acting in isolation. Moderate members like Reps. Jared Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez have repeatedly defied party leadership on national security votes this session, a pattern that suggests the Democratic caucus is less unified on foreign policy than its leaders would prefer.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the signing with a lengthy post on X, praising both Trump and the late Graham. Zelensky described the bill as "an extremely powerful tool that can stop this terrorist war and bring Russia to the point where it has to make peace," according to Breitbart.
Zelensky also invoked his personal relationship with Graham, recalling the senator's visits to Ukraine:
"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."
He 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", emphasis Zelensky's own.
Zelensky thanked Trump directly for signing the legislation and pressed for rapid implementation. "The best way to honor Lindsey's memory will be to implement the provisions of this law fully and swiftly," he wrote.
The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 operates on two fronts. On Russia, it targets the oil and gas revenue that continues to fund Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine. The centerpiece is the tariff authority: the administration can now impose duties of up to 100 percent on the largest importers of Russian crude oil or natural gas, a provision that could directly affect major buyers like China and India.
On Iran, the bill renews existing sanctions against Tehran's energy and weapons sectors. Those sanctions were set to lapse after the end of this year, and the renewal ensures continued economic pressure on a regime that remains a destabilizing force in the Middle East. The Iran provisions come at a moment when the administration is also weighing its broader posture toward Tehran, including military options in response to escalating tensions.
The bill's passage through both chambers with large bipartisan margins, 86, 11 in the Senate, 262, 159 in the House, gives the law a political durability that executive orders lack. A future administration would need Congress to undo it.
Several details remain unresolved. The bill grants authority to impose tariffs on the "largest importers" of Russian energy, but how that designation will be measured and enforced has not been spelled out publicly. Which countries will face the first round of tariffs, and on what timeline, will depend on decisions the administration has yet to announce.
Trump himself did not issue a public statement at or about the signing, at least not in the reporting available. The White House confirmed the signing but offered no additional detail on implementation priorities or timelines.
The 86, 11 Senate vote and the 262, 159 House vote represent a rare consensus in a Congress that agrees on almost nothing else. That consensus was built on a straightforward proposition: Russia's energy revenue funds its war machine, and the countries buying that energy are complicit in keeping the war going. Whether the tariff authority translates into real economic pain for Moscow depends entirely on how aggressively the White House uses it.
Lindsey Graham spent years arguing that America had the leverage to squeeze Russia's finances if it had the will. Congress just handed the president the tools. Now the question is whether the follow-through matches the vote count.
