President Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law, a bipartisan measure that targets Moscow's energy revenue and extends economic pressure on Tehran, legislation the late South Carolina senator championed before his death.
Trump put his signature on the bill September 18, capping a legislative push that drew overwhelming support from both parties. The measure passed the Senate 86-11 and cleared the House 262-159, margins that reflect a rare consensus in a Congress that agrees on almost nothing else. The law authorizes the president to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the top five countries purchasing Russian crude oil and natural gas, a direct strike at the revenue pipeline Moscow uses to fund its war in Ukraine. It also sanctions Vladimir Putin personally, along with other Russian officials, banks, and a shadow fleet of tankers that have helped Russia move energy exports around existing restrictions, AP News reported.
Beyond Russia, the legislation renews sanctions on Iran's energy and weapons sectors that were set to expire at year's end. Trump agreed to sign the bill after lawmakers included that five-year extension, folding two of America's most pressing foreign-policy challenges into a single package.
The law bears the name of its lead Senate champion, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Graham spent years pressing for tougher economic measures against Moscow and made the case repeatedly, in Washington and on visits to Kyiv, that sanctions were the sharpest tool short of direct military action. He did not live to see the final vote.
His sister, Darline Graham, appointed by Gov. McMaster to fill his Senate seat, was present for the signing. Her words carried the weight of the moment.
The Washington Examiner reported that the ceremony underscored the bipartisan nature of the effort, with the bill co-authored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, and backed by large majorities in both chambers.
Darline Graham spoke at the event:
"I wish Lindsey were here to celebrate this historic day. I know he would be so proud."
Blumenthal, who co-authored the legislation, framed the bill as a message calibrated to the only language Vladimir Putin respects. He told reporters:
"Putin is a thug who understands only force and strength, which is what we must show clearly and unequivocally."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded publicly, thanking Trump and the congressional supporters who pushed the measure through. Zelensky tied the bill directly to Graham's legacy and the senator's repeated 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."
Zelensky urged swift implementation, calling the legislation "critically important" and adding that the best way to honor Graham's memory would be to enforce its provisions fully and without delay. The Senate's lopsided 86-11 vote weeks earlier had already signaled that Washington was ready to move.
The centerpiece of the new law is its tariff authority. By empowering the president to slap duties as high as 100 percent on the largest buyers of Russian energy, the legislation targets the countries that have kept Moscow's oil revenue flowing despite years of Western sanctions. Just The News noted that the provision specifically goes after nations helping Russia evade existing restrictions, a direct acknowledgment that earlier rounds of sanctions left too many loopholes.
The bill also takes aim at the shadow fleet of tankers Russia assembled to circumvent Western shipping controls. Those vessels have operated in a gray zone, moving Russian crude to willing buyers while skirting insurance and flagging requirements designed to cap Moscow's export prices.
Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, cast the vote in stark terms:
"Evil is on the march, history is calling, and now is the time to act."
The Iran provisions matter separately. Renewing sanctions on Tehran's energy and weapons sectors removes the risk that those restrictions would quietly lapse at the end of the year, a scenario that would have handed Iran a windfall at the worst possible time. The Treasury Department's broader campaign against Iran's remaining economic lifelines now has fresh statutory backing.
Graham and Blumenthal made an unlikely pair. One was a hawkish South Carolina Republican; the other a liberal Connecticut Democrat. They agreed on almost nothing domestically. But on the question of whether the United States should use its economic leverage to punish Russian aggression, they found common ground, and held it long enough to build a coalition that survived Graham's death and the usual partisan headwinds.
That 86-11 Senate margin is worth sitting with. Only eleven senators voted no. In a chamber where 60 votes are hard to find on a post-office naming, near-unanimity on a major foreign-policy bill says something about where the political center of gravity sits on Russia. The House margin was narrower, 262-159, but still well above the threshold needed.
Trump's willingness to sign the bill also reflects a practical calculation. The Iran extension gave him a policy win he wanted; the Russia sanctions gave Congress a tool it demanded. Both sides got something. The result is a law with real teeth, if the administration enforces it.
Graham's final conversations before his death reportedly centered on the same themes the bill addresses: strength abroad, pressure on adversaries, and the conviction that American inaction invites aggression. The law that now carries his name turns those convictions into binding statute.
And that is the point. Sanctions without enforcement are press releases. The new law gives the president the authority. Whether he uses it, fully, swiftly, and without carve-outs for politically convenient buyers, will determine whether Lindsey Graham's last legislative fight was worth the name on the bill.
Congress did its part. Now the hard work shifts to the executive branch, where good laws go to either change the world or gather dust.
