TEHRAN, Iran — In just a few dizzying hours, American Sarah Shourd exchanged a cell in Tehran’s Evin Prison for a private jet crossing the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, after an apparent diplomatic deal to cover a $500,000 bail and secure a release that seemed in jeopardy from the start.

Shourd was met by her mother and U.S. diplomats at a royal airfield in the capital of Oman, which U.S. officials say played a critical role in organizing the bail payment and assuring it did not violate American economic sanctions on Iran.

Additional Photos

American hiker Sarah Shourd, right, embraces her mother, Nora Shourd, as she arrives Tuesday in Muscat, Oman, after spending more than 13 months in an Iranian prison cell. The Associated Press

Shourd stepped off the private Omani jet and into the arms of her mother in their first embrace since a brief visit in May overseen by Iranian authorities – and her first day of freedom in more than 13 months. Shourd smiled broadly as they strolled arm-in-arm through the heat of the late summer night along the Gulf of Oman.

“I’m grateful and I’m very humbled by this moment,” she said before boarding the plane in Tehran for the two-hour flight.

The whirlwind departure of the 32-year-old Shourd brought little change for two other Americans – her fiance Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal – who remained behind bars while authorities moved toward possible trials on spy charges that could bring up to 10 years in prison if they are convicted.

The three were detained along the Iraq border in July 2009. Their families say they were innocent hikers in the scenic mountains of Iraq’s Kurdish region and if they did stray across the border into Iran, they did so unwittingly.

“Shane and Josh deserve to come home, too,” said a statement by the three families.