On the day of the funeral of the bill’s author, Lindsey Graham, the U.S. Senate will begin procedural voting on a sanctions document against Russia and Iran, which provides for tightening economic pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine and restricting revenues from the export of Russian energy resources, Reuters reports.
"The Senate plans to vote on the bill on Tuesday (Wednesday in Ukraine – IF-U) after lawmakers meet with Zelenskyy, who arrived in Washington for Graham’s funeral and for a meeting with Trump. A group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday announced an agreement to vote on the bill, now titled the ‘Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026’, and expressed their intention to advance it further," the report states.
The bill provides for the introduction of sanctions against Russian officials, as well as granting the U.S. President authority to impose significant tariffs on countries that continue purchasing Russian energy resources or assisting Moscow in evading sanctions.
According to the document, the U.S. President will be able to impose tariffs of up to 100% on imports from countries that are major consumers of Russian oil and gas, particularly India, Japan, and certain European Union states. At the same time, the head of the White House will have the discretion to waive such restrictions.
Senators stated that the bill is aimed at stopping foreign purchases of Russian energy resources, the revenues from which, according to them, support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s "war machine". The document also provides for restricting Iran’s ability to fund its energy sector and weapons development.
An aide to one Democratic senator noted that representatives of both parties have questions regarding the customs portion of the document; however, it remains unknown whether they will insist on this during the vote, as they seek to honor Graham’s memory.
Earlier, it was noted that U.S. President Donald Trump predicted that the sanctions bill against the RF, co-authored by Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal and introduced to the Senate on December 17, 2025, would be passed and signed by him in honor of Graham, who died on July 12 following another visit to Ukraine, but would be supplemented with sanctions against Iran and the terrorist organization Hezbollah.
As reported on Friday, July 10, Graham was on his tenth consecutive visit to Ukraine, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss sanctions against Russia, and on July 12 passed away following a sudden, brief illness.
