A French court on Wednesday refused an American request to extradite an Iranian businessman accused of violating an American embargo on exports to Iran. He had raised American suspicions by purchasing equipment for a front company in Malaysia that was then shipped secretly to Iranian military firms involved in Iran's nuclear program. The French government prosecutor had opposed the request to extradite the businessman, Majid Kakavand, 37, on the grounds that he had not violated French law and that the equipment involved was not necessarily military in nature. Neither France nor the European Union has a general trade embargo on Iran, as the United States does. The court ordered that Kakavand be set free and that his bail of about $260,000 be returned. His passport was given back to him. 'I'm leaving as soon as I can,' Kakavand said in English after the court session. The United Stateshad pressed the case hard, and Justice Department officials expressed their unhappiness. Although American officials did not show up for Wednesday's judgment, they had appeared at various hearings in the case since Kakavand was arrested in March 2009 on an American warrant when he arrived at a Paris airport with his wife for a vacation. He was released on bail in late August. The American indictment of Kakavand accuses him of exporting to an embargoed country, money laundering and goods smuggling. With two associates, it says, he ordered electronic goods online from American companies from January 2006 until December 2008 and had them shipped to a front company in Malaysia, which is not embargoed, then shipped at least 30 deliveries worth $1.2 million to Iranian military companies on U.S. watch lists. The equipment included capacitors, resistors, connectors, reflectometers and pressure sensors, which the Americans call dual-use equipment intended for military purposes. But Adm. Jean-Louis Barbier, a French weapons expert who went through the list of items at the request of the defense, said he checked it against current regulations and found that the items were not dual use. The French news media have suggested that in return for Kakavand's release, Iran offered to free a French woman, Clotilde Reiss, 24, held in Iran since July 1 on charges of espionage for photographing and e-mailing photographs of rallies protesting June's election results. She also e-mailed the photos to the French Embassy in Tehran. Both governments deny any connection between the cases. 