New York (CNN) -- Sarah Shourd had been waiting for this meeting for 14 months, pleading for a private conversation with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while she was imprisoned in Tehran.
On Friday, she got it, meeting with the Iranian leader in New York where he was attending sessions at the United Nations.
"I would like to thank President Ahmadinejad for giving me and my mother, Nora, the opportunity to meet with him today," Shourd said in a statement issued by family spokeswoman Samantha Topping. "It was a very gracious gesture and a good meeting.
"While I was in prison, I pleaded for the chance to speak with President Ahmadinejad in order to clear up any misunderstanding that led to our detention".
The meeting came just hours after Shourd told CNN's "American Morning" that she hoped to meet with Ahmadinejad while he was in New York.
She said she wanted to make a personal appeal for the freedom of her fiance, Shane Bauer, and friend Josh Fattal, who remain jailed in Tehran's Evin Prison.
CNN
