A deal to pay $1 million bail for the release of Minnesota native Shane Bauer and his friend Josh Fattal hit a snag because a judge whose signature was needed was away on vacation. The deal is expected to move forward when the judge returns Tuesday. Bauer and Fattal have been held for more than two years on spying charges.

Minnesota-native Shane Bauer, fiance Sarah Shourd and friend Josh Fattal held an open house in Shakopee to thank everyone in the community who supported them during their 780 days behind bars in an Iranian prison on espionage charges.

The delegation met for over an hour this weekend with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about releasing Minnesota-native Shane Bauer and his friend Josh Fattal.

The Associated Press quotes an anonymous Iraqi official who says a delegation is there to negotiate a $1 million bail to free the Americans.

Bauer and Fattal say they were held in isolation. Phone calls with family members amounted to a total of 15 minutes in two years and they had to go on repeated hunger strikes to receive letters.

Minnesota native Shane Bauer and friend Josh Fattal are on their way home after judges in Iran signed off on $1 million bail deal.

Iran's powerful judiciary says it's still studying a bail offer that would free a Minnesota native and his friend imprisoned there. Just a day earlier Iran's president said the Americans could be free in a couple of days. But the president has long been locked in a power struggle with the country's clerics, who control the courts.

Minnesota native Shane Bauer says the joy of hugging family members again will stay with him forever. Bauer and Josh Fattal landed in New York, ending their Middle Eastern ordeal. The hikers spent more than two years in an Iranian prison on spying charges.