House sends Lindsey Graham Russia-Iran sanctions bill to Trump

There are exceptions for countries that import less than 15 percent of their natural gas from Russia and are taking significant steps to reduce the imports.

Europe has historically been Russia’s largest natural gas customer, though the EU has cut imports and sales to China have grown.

Two hundred three Republicans voted to pass the bill.

One hundred fifty-two Democrats opposed the bill.

The bill allows tariffs of up to 500 percent on Russian imports.

The bill has gone through several iterations and still focuses on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Blumenthal defended the tariff language in the bill to Fox News Digital.

The bill faced last-minute hurdles as Republican isolationists were joined by Democrats who warned Trump could use the new tariff authority against allies.

Russia has improved drone technology used to strike Ukrainian infrastructure as Kyiv has suffered a shortage of anti-air missiles.

The Ukrainian government said it supported the bill.

Hundreds of pro-Ukrainian activists held advocacy talks in Washington in the days leading up to the vote.

The House had been reluctant to take the bill up for months, with questions whether it would be voted on before the midterms.

Speaker Mike Johnson could not lose many of his lawmakers given the strong Democratic opposition.

The legislation’s supporters argued it was necessary to help end the war in Ukraine.

It remains to be seen whether or how Trump will use the sanctions and tariff authority Congress just gave him.

Trump promised to end the conflict after taking office in January 2025 but has struggled to negotiate a peace deal.

Trump has not said how he plans to use the bill’s authority.

Despite unprecedented sanctions, the Kremlin can still sell energy to customers around the world.

Russia already faces one of the most aggressive sanctions regimes in history.

More than 13,000 people, including political leaders and oligarchs, have been hit with sanctions aimed at keeping them out of the global financial system.

Since February 2022, Russian banks, businesses, and individuals have been hit with 23,960 sanctions, according to Castellum.AI.

India accounted for about 37 percent of those Russian crude exports, followed by Turkey at 5 percent.

Europe still buys nearly half of Russia’s natural gas exports.

The U.S. and Europe account for most of those sanctions; Japan and Australia have each issued more than 1,000 of their own.

Since December 2022, the U.S. and Europe have enforced a price cap on Russian energy.

That cap has been set at $60 per barrel of Russian crude oil.

Russia received about $192 billion in revenue from oil and crude oil exports in 2024, according to the IEA.

The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies estimated in 2024 that Russia gets 30 to 50 percent of federal budget revenue from oil and gas.

Much of that money is then funneled into the Russian military.

Western firms providing maritime services such as insurance do so only if the oil is sold at or below the $60-per-barrel cap.

Graham first introduced the bill in April 2025.

Russian energy exports have slowed in recent months as Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure have become more effective.

Analysts say Russia has a complex array of schemes to evade Western sanctions.

Russia also relies on shell and front companies to obscure its financial activities worldwide, according to Kharon.

Russia made $1.2 billion from sunflower oil exports to India in the first six months of this year, according to Interfax.

That sunflower-oil figure was up more than 34 percent from the same period in 2025.

His sister, Darline Graham, was appointed to fill his Senate seat.