TEHRAN (IRNA) -- German citizen Donald Cline who had been imprisoned in Iran for illegal entry into Iran's coastal water was released in Tehran Tuesday and handed over to German Embassy officials.

The German Foreign Ministry minutes after Cline's release from prison confirmed the news, expressing German officials gratitude and delight over the matter.

Cline's wife spoke to his freed husband soon after his release on the phone and expressed hope that he would soon return to Germany.

Donald Cline and Stephan Lerbiet, a French citizen were arrested in late winter of 2006 in Persian Gulf waters near Iran's southern coasts and fined to serve eighteen months in prison.

They were met by French and German official several times during their imprisonment.

Lerbiet was released late last winter and the German president had in a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader in January 2007 asked for Cline's release from prison. Head of IRI Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Alaedding Borujerdi had earlier last week informed about Cline's immediate release in a meeting with German officials.