Washington (AFP) – Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Thursday said that the United States would levy more sanctions on the troubled Turkish economy if Ankara does not release an American pastor.

“We have put sanctions on several of their cabinet members,” Mnuchin told President Donald Trump in a cabinet meeting attended by the press. “We have more that we are planning to do if they don’t release him quickly.”

Trump prefaced Mnuchin’s remarks by saying that Turkey had not been a very good friend.

Referring to imprisoned pastor Andrew Brunson, Trump said “they have a great Christian pastor there, he’s a very innocent man.”