The 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran have been freed and have arrived back home in Britain. Iranian soldiers seized the men and woman 13 days ago in the Persian Gulf after Iran claimed their ship had crossed into Iranian territory. On Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the British men and woman would be released.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: “I announce that the generous nation of Iran, despite having the power and legal right to put these British sailors on trial, pardons them as a gift to the British nation.”

Family members of the captured sailors and marines welcomed the news. This is Alison and Paul Carman, the parents of Lieutenant Felix Carman.

Alison Carman: “Well, we’ve been glued to the television all day today, because we knew that he was going to make a speech, but we had no idea what the outcome was going to be. And when we heard, I think I fell on the floor, then Paul.”

Paul Carman: “It was an astonishing moment.”

Alison Carman: “Just floods of tears, and I just felt sick.”

Paul Carman: “She was very tearful.”

Alison Carman: “Couldn’t believe it.”

Paul Carman: “Specially since we were worried about what President Ahmadinejad was going to say.”

Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s announcement came one day after an Iranian diplomat, Jalal Sharafi, was released in Baghdad. He was kidnapped at gunpoint in Iraq in early February. The New York Sun reports Sharafi was released in part because of a decision at the highest levels of the U.S. government. The U.S. continues to hold five other Iranian officials in Iraq.