“Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home,” President Joe Biden said in a statement released as the plane carrying the group from Tehran landed in Doha, Qatar.

After the plane slowed to a stop, three of the prisoners walked down the ramp and were greeted by the U.S. ambassador to Qatar, Timmy Davis. The former prisoners hugged the ambassador and others.

The three — Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz — then wrapped their arms around their shoulders and walked off to a building in the airport.

In a statement issued on his behalf, Namazi said: “I would not be free today, if it wasn’t for all of you who didn’t allow the world to forget me.”

“Thank you for being my voice when I could not speak for myself and for making sure I was heard when I mustered the strength to scream from behind the impenetrable walls of Evin Prison,” Namazi said.

In addition to the five freed Americans, two U.S. family members flew out of Tehran, according to a senior Biden administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity when the exchange was ongoing.

Earlier, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the exchange would take place Monday after nearly $6 billion in once-frozen Iranian assets reached Qatar.

“Fortunately Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea were released and God willing today the assets will start to be fully controlled by the government and the nation,” Kanaani said.

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