Vice President Mike Pence is threatening NATO ally Turkey with economic sanctions over a detained American pastor held on terror and espionage charges.

Pence said Thursday that if Turkey does not take immediate action to free Andrew Craig Brunson, “the United States of America will impose severe economic sanctions on Turkey.” He spoke at the close of a three-day conference on religious freedom.

Brunson, 50, an evangelical Christian pastor originally from North Carolina, was let out of jail Wednesday, after 1½ years, to serve house arrest because of “health problems,” according to Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency.

President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly demanded Brunson’s release and said on Twitter last week the pastor’s detention was “a total disgrace.”