President Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law Friday, delivering a bipartisan rebuke of Moscow's war machine and a final legislative victory for the late South Carolina senator who spent years pushing the measure.
The White House announced the signing after the bill cleared Congress with lopsided margins, 86, 11 in the Senate and 262, 159 in the House. The legislation targets Russian oil and gas exports, sanctions Russian officials and banks, and authorizes the administration to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the largest importers of Russian crude oil or natural gas. It also renews sanctions on Iran's energy and weapons sectors that were set to expire at the end of this year.
The vote totals tell the story. When a bill draws 86 Senate votes and 262 House votes in today's Washington, it reflects something close to consensus, a rare commodity on Capitol Hill. And the breadth of support undercuts any attempt to frame the measure as a partisan exercise.
The House passed the bill Wednesday with 203 Republicans and 53 Democrats voting in favor, Fox News reported. Some Democrats objected to the expanded tariff authority the legislation grants the president, but a majority of the caucus that voted still chose to back the package rather than be seen as soft on Russia.
Rep. Michael McCaul, the Texas Republican who led the fight on the House floor, framed the moment in stark terms.
"Evil is on the march, history is calling, and now is the time to act."
McCaul argued the sanctions would cut off the revenue stream that funds Russia's military campaign against Ukraine and force Putin to the negotiating table. He told colleagues the bill would keep Putin's ambitions in check and prevent him from pushing further into Eastern Europe.
On tariffs specifically, McCaul drew a sharp distinction between sanctions and trade penalties. "You can evade sanctions, which the Russians have done for years," he said. "But you cannot evade tariffs." That line captures the logic behind the bill's most aggressive provision, the authority to levy tariffs of up to 500 percent on Russian imports and up to 100 percent on the top five countries buying Russian energy.
The bill bears the name of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who championed the legislation for more than a year before his unexpected death in July. Graham had made the sanctions package a personal cause, traveling to Ukraine and pressing allies in both chambers to act. McCaul invoked him directly on the House floor.
"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."
Graham's sister, Darline Graham, offered her own tribute after the signing. "I wish Lindsey were here to celebrate this historic day. I know he would be so proud," she told Breitbart.
A senator who spent decades in Washington building coalitions, often drawing criticism from his own right flank for it, ended up producing one of the most consequential foreign-policy bills of the Trump era. That his name sits atop the statute is fitting. Graham understood that pressuring adversaries requires more than speeches. It requires law.
The Senate had already passed the bill with overwhelming support, and the House vote Wednesday sent it to the president's desk within days.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted publicly on X, thanking Trump and invoking Graham's memory. His post linked the late senator's advocacy directly to the new law's purpose.
"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."
Zelensky pointed to specific targets, countries that continue to buy Russian oil, provide financial services to Moscow, and allow Russian companies tied to Putin to operate freely abroad. His message was aimed not just at Washington but at capitals across Europe and Asia that have been slow to cut economic ties with Russia.
"Senator 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," Zelensky wrote. He thanked Trump for signing the bill and added a pointed request: "The best way to honor Lindsey's memory will be to implement the provisions of this law fully and swiftly."
That call for speed matters. Sanctions are only as strong as their enforcement. The legislation gives the administration broad authority, but the question now is how aggressively the White House moves to identify targets, designate entities, and impose the tariff penalties Congress authorized.
Beyond Russia, the bill addresses Iran. Existing sanctions on Tehran's energy and weapons sectors were set to lapse at the end of this year. The new law renews them, ensuring continuity in the pressure campaign against the Iranian regime.
The Iran provisions helped secure Trump's signature. The Washington Examiner reported that the administration agreed to sign the bill after it included a five-year extension of the Iran sanctions, a detail that aligned the legislation with the president's broader maximum-pressure strategy toward Tehran.
The administration's broader sanctions campaign against Iran has already produced measurable economic pressure, and the renewal ensures that legal framework stays intact well into the next presidential term.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, backed the bill with language that would have been at home in a Republican floor speech. "Putin is a thug who understands only force and strength, which is what we must show clearly and unequivocally," Blumenthal said.
When a Democrat uses the word "thug" to describe Putin and votes to hand a Republican president expanded tariff authority, the political landscape has shifted. The Democrats who voted for the bill may yet face second thoughts about the tariff powers they helped authorize, but the vote is on the record.
The sanctions also target a shadow fleet of tankers that has kept Russian energy moving despite prior rounds of restrictions. These vessels, often aging ships operating under opaque ownership structures, have allowed Moscow to skirt Western sanctions and continue selling oil at near-market prices. The new law gives the administration tools to go after the fleet directly.
That provision addresses one of the clearest failures of earlier sanctions efforts. Russia adapted. It built workarounds. And Western governments were slow to close the gaps. This legislation attempts to shut the door that previous rounds left open.
The bill's signing caps a legislative journey that began when Graham was still alive and pushing colleagues to act. It passed through committee, survived floor debates in both chambers, and landed on the president's desk with the kind of bipartisan margin that most legislation never achieves.
Several open questions remain. Which countries will face the 100 percent tariff penalties as top importers of Russian energy? How quickly will the Treasury Department designate new targets? And will European allies follow Washington's lead or continue hedging?
Congress did its part. The president signed the law. Now the measure of success shifts to enforcement, and whether the sanctions actually squeeze Moscow hard enough to change the calculus in a conflict that has dragged on for years.
Lindsey Graham spent his final months arguing that America had the strength to confront dictators if it chose to use it. The bill bearing his name is now law. The only question left is whether Washington has the will to match the words on the page.
