President Donald Trump defended his suspension of a set of congressional sanctions against Russia just days before their planned implementation, saying on Monday that imposing the penalties would jeopardize peace negotiations with Ukraine.
Trump said he was “in the midst of negotiating a deal” with Russian President Vladimir Putin on several fronts and framed the waiver as leverage he could reverse at will.
“And of course, we’re negotiating with him on Ukraine. I’m not looking to break up negotiations right in the middle,” he said before departing the White House for Kansas. “And by the way, I have the right to do that at any time, immediately. So if things don’t work out, I can always do it.”
Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act into law on Sept. 18, then rendered most of it unenforceable Friday night, two days before the deadline Congress set for putting it in place.
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The law sought to cut off oil and gas revenue financing Russia’s war by imposing tariffs of up to 500% on Russian goods and up to 100% on the largest buyers of Russian crude and on countries helping Russia evade oil sanctions.
Trump struck a deal with President Vladimir Putin earlier this month for Russia to supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel immediately, another 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Three million tons would follow, depending on the condition of Russian refineries.
Trump used a waiver provision built into the law to suspend those levies, along with other restrictions. Sanctions imposed under earlier executive orders remain in place. The order says the waivers stand until the president or the secretary of state determines otherwise, but it is unclear when the waiver would expire.
He said Monday that he is negotiating with Russia not only on Ukraine but on hostages, diesel and Iran, adding that Moscow has “been very well behaved on Iran.”
“Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way,” he wrote in a Sunday Truth Social post.
Representatives for the White House didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
U.S. intelligence officials have assessed otherwise, however. CNN and The Washington Post reported in March that Russia was providing Iran with intelligence on U.S. military targets. When asked at an April Senate hearing if Russia was aiding Iran’s war effort against U.S. forces, Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs chair, said there was “definitely some action there.” NBC News reported in August that Russia had transferred drone components and explosives to Iran across the Caspian Sea as recently as July.
Asked about a possible trilateral meeting with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said he was open to one focused on nuclear weapons and suggested it could be held in China during a scheduled November trip for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. But talks about Ukraine may not be on the agenda with Xi and Putin.
“Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine,” Trump said Monday. “They haven’t been doing much.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said over the weekend that Russia had launched more than 320 drones at Ukraine’s energy grid over a 12-hour span. Zelenskyy has said that twice in as many weeks, Russian attacks came without advanced intelligence warning from its global partners, including the U.S.
The Trump administration has denied it paused sharing intelligence with Ukraine, something Trump reiterated when asked on Monday. He added that the U.S. has given Ukraine “hundreds of billions of dollars” and gotten “nothing” in return.
Pressed on Zelenskyy’s criticism that the sanctions waiver amounts to backing Putin, Trump said the Ukrainian president “is not helping matters much” and questioned whether Zelenskyy wants the war to end.
Told Zelenskyy had said Trump was on the wrong side of history, Trump said Zelenskyy “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” he said.
The comments add to a strained stretch between the two world leaders. Ukraine lost normal access last week to Starshield, the military version of SpaceX’s satellite network that its large drone operations depend on.
Zelenskyy said Sunday on NBC the Starshield slowdown was “a message from the American government” and that “technically, SpaceX did it.”
Trump denied Friday that he or SpaceX CEO Elon Musk were responsible.
Asked Monday who gave the order, Trump said he didn’t know, but he’d “like to find out.”
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