WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat and a longtime critic of both the Iran war and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, accused President Donald Trump on Friday of financing Vladimir Putin’s war machine to solve a fuel crisis that Van Hollen says the president created himself. The senator’s post on X landed hours after the Treasury Department lifted sanctions on Russian diesel and Trump announced a deal with Putin. It condensed his argument into three sentences.
Van Hollen posted at 4:41 p.m. on October 9, 2026. The full text of his post reads:
“Trump started a stupid & illegal war in Iran that has driven up diesel prices. Now he wants to bankroll Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine by buying diesel from him.
One strategic disaster after the next.”
The Treasury License Behind the Post
Van Hollen’s post followed a rapid sequence of events. Trump announced on Truth Social that, after a call with Putin, Russia would supply diesel to the United States and global markets. He said Russia would deliver more than 300,000 tons immediately, 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons after that, with a further 3 million tons depending on the condition of Russian refineries. Immediately afterward, the Treasury Department said on X that “at President Trump’s direction, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is immediately issuing a temporary general license to allow the supply of Russian diesel to the global market.”
What General License 135 Allows
The license, numbered 135 and signed by OFAC Director Bradley T. Smith, authorizes transactions related to “the sale, delivery, offloading, or importation, including importation into the United States, of diesel fuel of Russian Federation origin.” It runs through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on April 7, 2027. It does not authorize any debit to an account on the books of a U.S. financial institution of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the National Wealth Fund or the Ministry of Finance.
Source: OFAC General License 135, dated October 9, 2026
Record Diesel Prices and the Midterm Backdrop
Politico reported that the move came weeks ahead of the midterm elections. The administration has spent weeks wrestling with record diesel prices that have angered farmers and truckers and pushed up the cost of goods across the economy. The American Automobile Association put the national average at $6.27 a gallon on Friday, down 10 cents from the previous week but $2.60 higher than a year earlier. Trump ruled out an export ban on diesel last week and instead announced a pledge from European allies to tap their stockpiles. Those governments have since said the announcement largely amounted to existing commitments.
A Reversal of Recent Sanctions Policy
The diesel license arrives less than a month after Trump signed sweeping Russia sanctions legislation dedicated to the memory of Sen. Lindsey Graham. The law allows tariffs against buyers of Russian oil. Trump has previously criticized European allies for continuing to buy Russian oil that helped fund Moscow’s campaign against Ukraine. Some European countries insisted the United States uphold its sanctions as a condition for releasing their stockpiles, according to minutes from last Friday’s meeting of EU ambassadors. The prospect that the U.S. would effectively sidestep its own new law, and possibly buy fuel from Russia directly, raised alarm among top Democrats.
Zelenskyy: “A Smokescreen”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Trump of using peace talks in Florida between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators as a “smokescreen” while the United States struck a deal with Russia. “It plays into Russia’s hands – allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world,” Zelenskyy said on X.
Van Hollen’s Case Against the Iran War
Van Hollen’s reference to a “stupid & illegal war in Iran” reflects a position he has held since the first U.S. strikes. In a statement on the strikes, he said, “Trump is lying to the American people as he launches an illegal, regime-change war against Iran. This is endangering American lives and has already resulted in mass civilian casualties. This is not making us safer and only damages the U.S. and our interests. The Senate must immediately vote on the War Powers Resolution to stop it.”
War Powers Votes
In April, Van Hollen joined Sens. Jeff Merkley, Kirsten Gillibrand, Mark Kelly, Raphael Warnock and Andy Kim in filing new War Powers resolutions, adding to an effort already led by Sens. Cory Booker, Tim Kaine, Chris Murphy, Adam Schiff, Tammy Baldwin and Tammy Duckworth. He cited Trump’s threat of war crimes in Iran, saying, “I urge our Republican colleagues to join us in reining in this lawless president and bringing this war to a permanent end, before he does even more harm.”
A Floor Speech and a Failed Vote
In a Senate floor speech urging support for his own resolution, Van Hollen described a “disastrous and illegal war against Iran that President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu launched over 140 days ago.” He said the Senate had voted 11 times on resolutions to end the war, and that both chambers had passed House Concurrent Resolution 86 directing the president to terminate hostilities. In July, the Senate rejected his measure 47-49. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine voted yes and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the lone Democrat to vote no. “There is no good way out of a bad war,” Van Hollen said of the effort.
A Record on Russia Sanctions Going Back to 2022
Van Hollen’s record on Russia predates the Iran war. When Russia expanded its invasion in 2022, he said Putin “will have blood on his hands” and urged “comprehensive and punishing economic sanctions imposed by every member of NATO.” He also said the West must “provide the Ukrainian resistance with the weapons they need to fight Russian occupation.”
The Toomey Sanctions Framework on Energy Revenue
With Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Van Hollen released a framework for new sanctions legislation aimed at Russia’s energy revenue. The two senators said that “we have yet to effectively cut off funding to Putin’s war machine by diminishing Russia’s revenues from energy sales.” The framework would have imposed sanctions on foreign financial institutions that bought Russian energy above a set price cap. That is the same revenue stream Van Hollen now says Friday’s license supports.
A 2025 Letter to Trump on Putin
In 2025, Van Hollen joined Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, Ron Wyden and seven colleagues in a letter to Trump reaffirming Congress’s authority to maintain trade restrictions on Russia. “Vladimir Putin is a ruthless dictator who has led the Russian Federation into a war of aggression against Ukraine,” the senators wrote. They also challenged Trump’s claim that Ukraine “should have never started [the war],” and noted that he had called Ukraine’s elected president a “dictator” while praising Putin as “a very smart guy.”
What Comes Next
The license leaves European sanctions in place, and no binding written agreement beyond Trump’s post has been published. Van Hollen’s post puts a pointed frame on the diesel deal, tying the fuel shortage, the Iran war and Russian sanctions into a single line of argument ahead of the midterms. Whether Congress challenges the license under the new Russia sanctions law remains to be seen.