President Donald Trump urged Republicans to add Iran to the Russian sanctions bill, invoking former Sen. Lindsey Graham’s memory in support.
In a Sunday morning post on Truth Social, writing hours after hitting Iran in the eighth consecutive night of major strikes by U.S. Central Command forces, the president sought to hit Tehran with another economic blow.
“Republicans should add Iran to the Russian Sanctions Bill. That’s what Lindsey wanted to do, and it was going to happen. IMPORTANT!!!” he wrote.
The sanctions bill in question allows Trump to tariff the top five purchasers of Russian oil and gas up to 100%, authorizes him to tariff countries that help Russia evade sanctions, requires him to give a national-interest justification for any waiver he grants, and implements other economic measures to penalize Russia.
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Folding Iran into the bill would apply further economic pressure to the already crippling sanctions leveled against Tehran. The biggest impact would be on China, which is the largest buyer of Iranian oil. China is also Russia’s biggest trading partner, meaning the country could either be hit with one blanket tariff or a doubled tariff.
Given the volume of trade with China and India, one of the other largest buyers of Russian oil, Trump could be hesitant to issue the tariffs, especially as oil prices are set to rise because of the renewed war with Iran.