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US President Donald Trump on Sunday backed adding Iran to a proposed Russia sanctions bill, saying Republicans should expand the legislation to include Tehran.
"Republicans should add Iran to the Russian Sanctions Bill. That's what Lindsey wanted to do, and it was going to happen. Important!!!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Earlier he had said that he "couldn't care less" about Iran's decision to stop abiding by the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU), reiterating that Washington's priority remains preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Al Jazeera reported. Trump's Truth Social Post referred to the 'Sanctioning Russia Act', a legislation championed by the late US Senator Lindsey Graham. A bipartisan group of more than 60 US senators on Thursday (local time) introduced revised legislation to impose sweeping sanctions on Russia and its supporters, replacing the earlier proposal for blanket tariffs with targeted measures aimed at the world's largest buyers of Russian energy. The bill, introduced days after Senator Lindsey Graham's death, reflects changes agreed with the White House before his passing. The "Senator Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026" was introduced by Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Richard Blumenthal and Darline Graham to hold major purchases of Russian oil and gas accountable for supporting Russia's war in Ukraine. According to the sponsors' official press release, Lindsey Graham met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week and secured White House agreement on the revised text before his death. Graham and Blumenthal had first introduced the sanctions legislation in April 2025. The bill's sponsors said the revised text "refines tariff authority from a blanket 500 per cent tariff to tariffs on the top five purchasers of Russian crude oil and natural gas of upto 100 per cent, " while creating an exception for countries importing less than 15 per cent of Russia's natural gas exports that are taking significant steps to reduce those imports. The overview of the key changes said that the revised legislation also "adds new authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the top five countries facilitating Russian oil sanctions evasion," "updates the waiver to require a national interest certification consistent with other sanctions laws," "incorporates the bipartisan SHADOW Fleet Sanctions Act targeting Russia's sanctions-evasion fleet," and " includes the bipartisan STOP Russia-China Act targeting Chinese support for Russia's defense industrial base." In January, Trump backed the bill, which proposes sanctions targeting countries that purchase Russian oil. (ANI)
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