The New Sanctions Bill On Russia And Iran: The Significant Downsides Of The Bill And How To Amend these

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• On Friday last week, the Senate passed the new Russia sanctions bill named after the late Senator Graham by 86 votes to 11.

• That is a very powerful majority and a strong signal to Putin that no matter what kind of flip-flop he can expect from Trump himself, America’s Senators are united in seeking his defeat in Ukraine.

• The actual piece of legislation, 61 pages long, was renamed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, in honor of the man who spent over a year negotiating it and died three weeks before the vote.

• Shortly before his death on July 11, Graham announced that he and Trump had finally agreed to move the legislation forward.

• The Senate took its first procedural vote in the hours after his Washington funeral, with Zelensky, in town for the service, watching from the gallery.

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the bill a great tribute for the late Senator Graham.

• Indeed it was, but whether it will achieve the practical effects sought by its proponents is an open question (more on that later below.)

• Zelensky said the best way to honor Graham’s memory was to pass this legislation.

• And so a bill that Trump had blocked for eighteen months, keeping every sanctions decision inside the White House, passed the upper chamber with a margin large enough to override his veto (2/3rd majority needed to override a Presidential veto. Not that he would veto this particular legislation).

• The next step to the bill is to go to the House.

• And the lower chamber returns from recess on August 31 and will take it up in September.

• This cable will look at what the bill does well, before evaluating its two structural weaknesses, and then at what the House should do about them.