President Trump is calling on congressional Republicans to expand a stalled Russia sanctions bill to include Iran — and he’s framing it as a tribute to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Graham died shortly after securing a breakthrough with the White House to advance the sanctions package he’d championed for months.
Trump made the push Sunday on Truth Social.
“Republicans should add Iran to the Russian Sanctions Bill. That’s what Lindsey wanted to do, and it was going to happen. IMPORTANT!!!”
The timing is critical. Trump’s patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be running out as peace talks drag on with no settlement in sight. Putin continues to stall, and the president is signaling growing openness to tougher measures on Moscow.
Meanwhile, the administration is confronting a dangerous escalation with Iran. After more than a week of renewed hostilities, American forces carried out retaliatory strikes Saturday following an Iranian attack that killed two U.S. service members in Jordan.
Trump called the deaths “a very sad thing.”
U.S. Central Command said the strikes were designed to curb Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and to punish the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units behind the missile and drone attack on American troops.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said advancing Graham’s bill would be a fitting way to honor him. Thune said it’s something lawmakers have “been interested in for a long time.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, stood alongside Graham as part of the bipartisan coalition that announced earlier White House support for the bill. She’s now backing the push to move it forward.
Graham introduced the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 in April. The measure languished for months while the administration worked to broker an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine through direct talks with Putin. Momentum picked up in recent days after Graham secured the breakthrough with the White House.
Some Democrats have balked at provisions in the current text. The bill hands the president broad tariff authority and locks in sanctions already imposed by executive order — a change that would make it far harder for a future president to unwind them.
Trump’s call to add Iran comes as the conflict with Tehran intensifies and American forces remain in the crosshairs.
