CNN said that the US Treasury Department decided to sanction NATO ally Turkey's ministers of justice and interior in response to the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday.

“We've seen no evidence that Pastor Brunson has done anything wrong,” Sanders said, calling Brunson's detention “unfair and unjust.” Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have discussed Brunson's imprisonment “on several occasions,” said Sanders, who added that the US President is “not happy with Turkey's decision not to release” the pastor.

CNN adds the two ministers will have any assets and properties under US jurisdiction blocked and US persons will be prohibited from engaging in financial transactions with the ministers.

The US Treasury announced that the US is sanctioning the two Turkish officials, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu, for their role in Brunson's arrest and detention.

“Pastor Brunson's unjust detention and continued prosecution by Turkish officials is simply unacceptable,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.

“President Trump has made it abundantly clear that the United States expects Turkey to release him immediately.”

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu responded on Twitter, saying, “the effort by the US to impose sanctions on our two ministers will not go unanswered. We cannot solve our problems until the US administration understands that it cannot get its unlawful demands with this method.”

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also put out a strong response, stating, “we vehemently protest the sanctions decision announced by the US Treasury Department… A reciprocal response will be given without delay to this aggressive attitude which serves no purpose.”

The ministry also called on the US to step back from what it called a “wrongful decision.”

A senior US official told CNN last week that Erdogan and Trump had agreed to a deal that would see Israel release an imprisoned Turkish national in exchange for Turkey freeing Brunson.

But on Sunday, Erdogan denied any such deal and warned that Turkey would not be bullied into releasing Brunson by Trump.