PICTURED: American hikers jailed as spies in Iran reunited with their families after court approves $1million bail deal

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal embrace family members after landing in Oman

Bauer and Fattal, both 29, released from prison after Oman posts $1million bail.

Hikers were detained, along with another American, Sarah Shourd, in July 2009.



After two years behind bars, two U.S. hikers jailed as spies in Iran were reunited with family members after securing their freedom today after a court approved a $1million bail deal.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were released from Tehran's notorious Evin prison and flew out of the Tehran International airport on a private jet after posting $500,000 bail each.

Their Iranian lawyer, Masoud Shafiei, revealed the $1million sum was paid by Oman, an ally of the U.S. that also has diplomatic ties with Iran.

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Emotional reunion: Shane Bauer hugs fiance Sarah Shourd, right, after arriving in Muscat, Iran, following his release from Tehran's notorious Evin prison

Brotherly love: Freed Josh Fattal embraces his brother shortly after his arrival in Muscat, Oman

A short time later, they emerged from the plane in Oman, where they were reunited with loved ones, some they had not seen for two years.

'We're so happy we are free,' Mr Fattal said at a press conference in Oman.



Mr Bauer added: 'Two years in prison is too long'



In a statement released later Wednesday, the families of Mr Bauer and Mr Fattal said: 'Today can only be described as the best day of our lives. We have waited for nearly 26 months for this moment and the joy and relief we feel at Shane and Josh’s long-awaited freedom knows no bounds.

Celebration: Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer embrace hug their loved ones in Muscat, Oman, hours after their release from Tehran's Evin prison

'We now all want nothing more than to wrap Shane and Josh in our arms, catch up on two lost years and make a new beginning, for them and for all of us.'

President Obama told ABC News that he was 'thrilled' to hear the news.



'And I could not feel better for the families and those moms we’ve been in close contact with. A wonderful day for them and for us.'



Reporters gathered outside of Iran's infamous Evin prison said they saw the men being escorted from the facility with Swiss and Omani officials on their way to the airport, where a private jet is reportedly waiting to take them out of the country.



Out of Iran: Shane Bauer, second from left, and Josh Fattal walk with the Omanian delegation in Oman shortly after being released from an Iranian prison

Free men: American hikers Shane Bauer, right, and Josh Fattal, center, sit with Swiss Ambassador Livia Leu Agosti in Tehran's Mehrabad airport today before leaving Iran for Oman

They were arrested along the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009 and sentenced last month to eight years each in prison.

Freed: Sarah Shourd, who had been walking with the two men, has already been released on bail

A third American in the group, Sarah Shourd, was freed last year on bail.

The men's Iranian attorney Masoud Shafiei said: 'Now we can say they are finally free. They can go to the U.S. the way Sarah did.'

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's deputy director for Middle East and North Africa, said: 'Iranian authorities have finally seen sense' and have agreed to release Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal. They must now be allowed to leave Iran promptly to be reunited with their families.'

Although the hikers' fate has gripped America, it rattled already strained ties with the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program and its ambitions to widen military and political influence in the Middle East and beyond.



But — for a moment at least — U.S. officials may be adding words of thanks in addition to their calls for alarm over Iran.



News of their release comes as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is slated to speak at the U.N. General Assembly and meet with several world leaders this week.

President Obama will speak at the General Assembly today.



The case of Mr Bauer and Mr Fattal, both 29, who were convicted of spying for the U.S., has deepened the mistrust between Washington, D.C., and Tehran.

TIMELINE OF JAILED HIKER ORDEAL

July 31, 2009: Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd are arrested and detained by Iranian border guards near the country’s border with Iraq.

September 29, 2009: Swiss government allowed access to hikers for the first time.

March 10, 2010: The hikers are allowed to phone home for the first time.

May, 20, 2010: Iran allows the mothers of the hikers to visit them in Iran.

May 24, 2010: The mothers of the detained hikers announce that Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd are engaged, and will marry when they are released.

September 14, 2010: Sarah Shourd is released on $500,000 bail and returned to the U.S.

February 6, 2011: Iran opens trial for the jailed hikers.

August 20, 2011: Bauer and Fattal are convicted in an Iranian court, and sentenced to eight years in prison each.

September 21, 2011: A bail-for-freedom deal is approved, allowing Bauer and Fattal to be released from Iran’s notorious Evin prison.

Mr Shafiei told the AFP that the $1million bail was paid by Oman, an ally of the U.S. that also has diplomatic ties with Iran.



Mr Shafiei said the bail of $500,000 for each of the men was posted after last-minute problems in the bank were resolved.

Oman is also believed to have been involved in paying Miss Shourd's bail last year.



Last week, Oman dispatched a plane - belonging to the Gulf country's ruler to fetch the two Americans if the freedom-for-bail was reached - that was waiting at the Tehran airport.

Omani officials declined to comment on the ongoing proceedings for the Americans' release.

The three Americans - friends from their days at the University of California at Berkeley - have maintained their innocence and denied the espionage charges against them.

Their families say they were just hiking in northern Iraq's scenic and relatively peaceful Kurdish region when they may have accidentally strayed over the unmarked border with Iran.

Since her release last year, Shourd has lived in Oakland, California.

Mr Bauer, a freelance journalist, grew up in Onamia, Minnesota, and Fattal, an environmental activist, is from suburban Philadelphia.

Mr Bauer proposed to Miss Shourd while the trio was detained, promising that they would be married when they were released.

Sweet taste of freedom: Shane Bauer (left) and Joshua Fattal smile as they wait to meet their mothers at the Esteghlal hotel in Tehran, in 2010

Legal victory: Iranian lawyer Masoud Shaffi, who represented the American hikers, speaks with reporters outside the Evin prison today just before their release

Locked up: The hikers were held for two years at Tehran's notorious Evin prison

Tearful reunion: The hikers were briefly reunited with their mothers on May 20, 2010, four months before Sarah Shourd, third from left, was released