US hikers freed by Iran to arrive home on Sunday

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, both 29, left Oman earlier. They are "expected to arrive on US soil tomorrow," spokeswoman Samantha Topping told AFP, without specifying where they would land.

Speaking briefly before their departure, the two hikers, who were flown into Muscat Wednesday after the Gulf sultanate paid $1 million bail for their release, said they couldn\'t wait to get back to the United States.

"We are eager to go home at last," Fattal said after the pair thanked Oman\'s Sultan Qaboos for his role in securing their release and for hosting them in "this wonderful country."

"Getting off the plane that brought us here three days ago was the most incredible experience of our lives," Bauer said.

"We will never forget the excitement of seeing our loved ones waiting for us at the foot of the plane. The joy of embracing them all after so long will stay with us forever."

Accompanying them on the ride home were Bauer\'s parents Cindy Hickey and Al Bauer, Fattal\'s parents Laura and Jacob Fattal with his brother Alex, and Shane Bauer\'s fiancee Sarah Shourd, 33, who was arrested with the pair near the mountainous border with Iraq on July 31, 2009.

All three have consistently maintained they innocently strayed into Iran while hiking in northern Iraq\'s Kurdistan region.

Shourd, 33, was released last year on $500,000 bail also paid by Oman.

On August 21, Bauer and Fattal were each sentenced to eight years in prison by a revolutionary court in Tehran on charges of espionage and illegal entry. They appealed against the ruling but the bail settlement saw them released.

President Barack Obama on Friday thanked Sultan Qaboos for his role in pushing Iran to free the US hikers.

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