President Donald Trump has called on Republican senators to insert Iran sanctions into a pending bill that would impose stiff secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian energy. In a post on his Truth Social platform on 19 July, Trump argued that the move would honour the late Senator Lindsey Graham, a co‑author of the legislation who died suddenly earlier this month. The intervention came hours after the US and Iran exchanged further air strikes, including an American attack on a nuclear plant construction site in south‑western Iran, following the killing of two US soldiers in Jordan by an Iranian bombardment the previous day. Trump also told news outlets that he “couldn’t care less” about a June memorandum of understanding that had been intended to de‑escalate the stand‑off.

The bill, now formally named after Graham, has already drawn support from more than sixty senators from both parties. Its original design targeted countries that persist in buying Russian crude and gas, giving the president authority to raise tariffs on their exports to the United States by up to 500 per cent. The revised text, which White House aides say Graham finalised with the administration shortly before his death, lowers that ceiling to 100 per cent for the five largest purchasers while still preserving sweeping secondary‑sanctions powers. Trump’s demand to fold Iran into the same legislative vehicle would, according to congressional aides, also add the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Some administration allies have privately described the president’s negotiating posture in the Middle East as erratic, but public statements from the White House present the linkage of Russia and Iran sanctions as a coherent attempt to choke off revenue for both adversaries at once.

Viewed from Moscow, the proposed enlargement of the bill reinforces a pattern of US‑led economic warfare. Russian state media highlighted that Graham was on Russia’s official list of terrorists and extremists, and they noted the senator’s repeated calls to strike Iranian oil infrastructure. In Tehran, the immediate military context was more urgent: the Iranian armed forces claimed to have launched drone attacks on two American bases in Kuwait in retaliation for the US strikes on Qeshm and Sirik, while Kuwait and Bahrain said they had intercepted incoming projectiles. The confrontation has now reached its eighth consecutive day of US air raids, according to US Central Command.

The economic consequences of linking sanctions on Russia and Iran are likely to be felt most acutely in energy‑importing countries that have large and growing trade ties with both. India, which together with China purchases roughly 70 per cent of Russian oil and gas exports, according to Graham’s earlier calculations, would be among those directly exposed to the tariff regime. A temporary US Treasury waiver that had allowed Indian refiners to buy Russian crude without triggering sanctions expired in mid‑June, leaving shipments in a legal grey zone. New Delhi has consistently stated that its energy sourcing is driven by commercial necessity, not geopolitical alignment. The legislation, which has already cleared procedural hurdles with strong bipartisan backing, is expected to move to the Senate floor in the coming weeks, where senators will decide whether to adopt the Trump‑backed Iran amendments.