Trump urges Republicans to add Iran to Russia sanctions bill

Trump the president pressed lawmakers to fold Iran into pending sanctions legislation, crediting Senator Lindsey Graham with the idea as the two nations trade strikes over the Strait of Hormuz.

First Published: July 19, 2026, 4:07 AM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald Trump pressed Republicans to add Iran to a pending Russia sanctions bill in a post on Truth Social on July 19, 2026 at 7:54 AM ET.

Here is the full post on truthsocial: “Republicans should add Iran to the Russian Sanctions Bill. That’s what Lindsey wanted to do, and it was going to happen. IMPORTANT!!! President DJT”

The president tied the push to Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who has led congressional efforts to punish Moscow over its war in Ukraine. Trump’s demand lands as the United States and Iran trade fresh military strikes, five months into a conflict that began in February. The war restarted in the past week after a June ceasefire collapsed over disputes involving Lebanon and control of the Strait of Hormuz, according to notus.org.

The stakes reach beyond the battlefield. The Trump administration restarted a blockade on Iranian ports and launched dozens of strikes, warning it would target bridges and power plants if Iran refuses a deal, according to notus.org. Iran has answered with drone and missile strikes against U.S. allies in the Gulf, according to theguardian.com. The Strait of Hormuz carried roughly 20% of the world’s energy exports before the war began, according to theguardian.com, and its closure has driven global oil prices higher.

Republican lawmakers who would carry the sanctions push are rattled. Rising gas prices threaten the party less than four months before the November midterm elections, when Democrats hope to recapture both houses of Congress, according to theguardian.com.

“It’ll weave back into the affordability issue. It makes it very difficult,” Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said of rising gas prices, according to notus.org.

For the average U.S. reader, the fight registers most directly at the pump. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said the war has hit household budgets, recounting his wife’s surprise at a lower fuel fill-up, according to notus.org. The conflict has cost as much as $100 billion so far, and the administration is seeking an additional $67 billion in defense funding this year, according to notus.org.

Has this happened before? Trump has repeatedly leaned on Congress to sharpen economic pressure on adversaries, and Graham has spent years drafting sanctions measures aimed at Russia. Folding a second target into an existing bill would broaden the legislation’s reach while testing whether wary Republicans still back the president’s Iran strategy.

The next move belongs to Congress. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee, and House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers warned the Pentagon would divert money from training and repairs on Aug. 1 without new war funding, according to notus.org. A vote to attach Iran to the sanctions bill has not been scheduled.

Washington has folded new targets into sanctions law before, as happened when Congress bundled Iran, Russia and North Korea into a single 2017 measure that passed the Senate 98 to 2 and the House 419 to 3. Trump signed that law while calling parts of it flawed, and its restrictions on Russia remain in force years later. The precedent shows how a bill built for one rival can quickly become the vehicle for punishing another.