Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday announced retaliatory sanctions against members of the US government amid a diplomatic row over a jailed American pastor and said he ordered the freezing of assets of two US ministers, presumably the Attorney General and Homeland Security Secretary.

During a speech at the Congress for the ruling Justice and Development Party's women's organization in Ankara, Erdogan said that he was responding to the sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump's administration over the case of Pastor Andew Brunson, imprisoned in Turkey on charges of terrorism since 2016.