US president Donald Trump said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, that his administration is studying whether to apply the law expanding sanctions on Russia and Iran, which he signed on 18 September 2026 and which is known as the “hell sanctions” bill: “That’s something we’re certainly studying.

It’s a very severe bill,” he told reporters before his meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, according to TASS. Asked whether he intended to raise secondary sanctions on Russia’s trading partners in his meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, set for this week in Washington, Trump replied: “Probably.” The law, chiefly authored by senator Lindsey Graham, who died on 11 July 2026, provides for tariffs of up to 100% on the five largest buyers of Russian oil and gas and secondary sanctions on countries that help Moscow evade the measures, as well as restrictions on Russia’s political and military leadership, state banks and the “shadow fleet” of oil tankers.