In a final dramatic action, just before heading out of town for the August recess, the U.S. Senate voted decisively to impose sanctions on Russia, Iran, and major associated trading partners, while honoring the legacy and memory of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina.
The vote was 86 to 11 to pass the sweeping “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026.”
The prime purpose of the significant legislation is to drastically reduce the income available to Russian President Vladimir Putin to prosecute his brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, now well into the fourth year. The bill allows the president to impose tariffs up to 100% on the five main nations that purchase petroleum and natural gas from Russia.
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These top five include China and India.
The bill also confirms and extends sanctions and other penalties against Iran. That nation has grown closer to Russia, an alliance of necessity, rather than Cold War-style ideology, as the conflict of each with the U.S. has grown.
Notably, the legislation targets the shadow fleet of aging tankers and concealed maritime networks that Russia has diligently developed in recent years to try and evade increasingly severe international as well as national sanctions.
Graham died suddenly of a heart attack on July 11. He had just returned from a diplomatic mission to Kyiv, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky. He was a sustained, effective supporter of a strong defense and American engagement in the world at large. He was throughout his career a faithful supporter of the NATO and Israel alliances.
In addition to his political career, which began in the South Carolina legislature, he served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. Decorations included the Bronze Star.
In our era of intense and bitter partisanship, Graham stands out as a successful practitioner of old-fashioned pragmatic politics. He was especially closely allied with Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Joe Lieberman, D-Connecticut, in pursuing successful bipartisan agreements. They dubbed themselves the “Three Amigos.”
The day after Graham died, Zelensky issued a public statement expressing his personal sadness at the loss. He described the legislator as a “true defender of freedom” and committed friend of Ukraine, who visited the country 10 times during the current war.
The war in Ukraine proceeds with devastating, perhaps irreparable damage to the influence and reputation of Vladimir Putin, and also the military of his nation. Rightly, the Red Army of the Soviet Union was greatly respected, and greatly feared in the nations occupied by that enormous force during the Cold War.
After all, this was the military that fought and ultimately destroyed the bulk of the enormous war machine of Nazi Germany. The vast majority of the mechanized units of the Wehrmacht were deployed on the Eastern Front, a theater where the war was literally a fight to the collective death.
Russia’s military has deteriorated drastically over the decades since.
Clearly, Putin and associates miscalculated how easily Russia’s military would be able to occupy and control Ukraine. As in armed conflict through history, events have proven surprising.
Modern technology, fully exploited by Ukraine, is proving decisive in targeting and striking with unmanned precision weapons.
Graham was a leader in maintaining our international engagement after the Cold War. The overwhelming Senate vote honors his legacy.
Arthur I. Cyr is author of “After the Cold War – American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia” (NYU and Palgrave/Macmillan). Contact [email protected]