Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Pastor Andrew Brunson was moved to house arrest last month due to health issues 
 
 The US has imposed sanctions on Turkey's justice and interior ministers over the continued detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson. ET 
 
 The U.S. is imposing sanctions against two high-level Turkish officials, retaliating for what the Treasury Department calls the "unfair and unjust detention" of an American pastor in Izmir. Faced with pressure from U.S. officials last year, Erdogan suggested Brunson's release may depend on U.S. compliance with one of his own demands: the extradition of elderly Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan has repeatedly accused of organizing the 2016 coup from his compound in Pennsylvania, despite Gulen's denials. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs promised Wednesday to retaliate with "an equivalent response" if the U.S. does not walk back "this wrong decision." The US Treasury Department later said Turkey's Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu were targeted because they "serve as leaders of Turkish government organizations responsible for implementing Turkey's serious human rights abuses". 'Nato allies at each other's throats' 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Presidents Trump and Erdogan met at a Nato summit in Brussels last month 
 
 By Mark Lowen, BBC Turkey correspondent 
 
 It is unprecedented for the US to hit a Nato ally with sanctions. The 50-year-old evangelical Presbyterian minister, who hails from North Carolina but has spent more than two decades in Turkey, was swept up in Ankara's wide-ranging crackdown after a failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "As a result, any property or interest in property of both ministers within US jurisdiction is blocked and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them," she said. Last week, President Trump warned Turkey it would face "large sanctions" if it did not release Mr Brunson immediately. But they are not altogether unexpected: Both President Trump and Vice President Pence have both lately threatened retaliation over the status of Andrew Brunson, whom Turkish authorities detained in October 2016. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Turkey has urged the US to extradite Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen 
 
 Mr Brunson has denied charges of espionage, but faces up to 35 years in jail if found guilty. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also discussed the matter several times with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, according to State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert. Turkey's foreign ministry said it had shared "necessary information" with the US, but insisted the case should be left with its judiciary. Mr Erdogan has indicated he would swap the pastor for "the priest" (Mr Gulen). The PKK - a Turkish-Kurdish rebel group fighting for autonomy since the 1980s - is considered a terrorist group by Turkey and the US.
– President Trump has made good on his threat to hit Turkey with sanctions if American pastor Andrew Brunson wasn't freed. The country's justice minister and interior minister, Abdulhamit Gul and Suleyman Soylu, have been sanctioned over what White House press secretary Sarah Sanders describes as the "unfair and unjust detention" of the North Carolina pastor and longtime Turkey resident, who was jailed for around two years before being shifted to house arrest last month, the BBC reports. Brunson was charged with espionage and aiding terrorist groups in the 2016 crackdown that followed a failed coup and faces up to 35 years if convicted on all counts. Sanders said that the sanctions on the NATO ally came after Trump discussed the matter with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan "many times." Turkish officials vowed that the sanctions, which ban American companies and individuals from doing business with the men, would not go unanswered, NPR reports. Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the move "disrespectfully intervenes with our judicial system, stands in contrast to the essence of our relations, and will seriously damage the constructive efforts made in order to resolve problems between the two countries." The ministry said Turkey would deliver "an equivalent response" if the US didn't walk back its "wrong decision."