US President Donald Trump has signed a law expanding sanctions pressure on Russia and extending existing sanctions against Iran. The legislation had previously been approved by both chambers of the US Congress.
The law provides for sanctions against Russia’s senior leadership, Russian oligarchs and members of their families, companies in the banking and energy sectors, as well as vessels belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which Moscow uses to export energy resources while circumventing Western restrictions.
The legislation also expands the US president’s authority to impose secondary economic measures. In particular, it allows tariffs of up to 100% to be imposed on countries that are among the largest buyers of Russian energy. This means sanctions pressure could target not only Russia directly but also countries that continue to provide Moscow with significant revenues from oil and gas sales.
The measures have been informally described in the media and political discussions as “sanctions from hell.” The phrase comes from sanctions bill from hell, a term used by the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the initiative’s authors and leading advocates, to describe the scale of economic pressure the legislation was intended to enable against Russia.
The original version of the initiative was even tougher, providing for tariffs of up to 500% on goods from countries that continued to purchase Russian oil, gas and other energy resources. During negotiations over the legislation, the maximum tariff was reduced to 100%.
Following Graham’s death, the legislation was named after him — the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026. The law also extends existing sanctions mechanisms against Iran.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Trump and US lawmakers for passing the legislation. He recalled that during his visits to Ukraine, Graham consistently advocated increasing economic pressure on Moscow.
“When Lindsey Graham was here in Ukraine, he always spoke about how important it was not to ease the pressure on Russia, to strengthen sanctions, and to seek a path to peace. This includes capitals where decisions are made to purchase 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 said.
According to Zelensky, the US senator “never doubted for a moment that America has enough strength to confront dictators and achieve results if it acts correctly.”
“Thank you to President Trump for signing this critically important law. Thank you to all the senators and members of the House of Representatives who supported it. The best way to honor Lindsey’s memory will be to fully and swiftly implement the provisions of this law. And the best reward for everyone helping us put pressure on Russia to end the war will be peace,” the Ukrainian president said.
“Peace comes through strength. Stability comes through security. And the best guarantee of security is resolve,” Zelensky added.
