Cite as: 507 U. S. 349 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
93-94, had no nexus with the personal injuries alleged in the complaint; Royspec had simply provided a way for Nelson's family to reach him in an emergency, id., at 96.
The Court of Appeals reversed. 923 F. 2d 1528 (CA11 1991). It concluded that Nelson's recruitment and hiring were commercial activities of Saudi Arabia and the hospital, carried on in the United States for purposes of the Act, id., at 1533, and that the Nelsons' action was "based upon" these activities within the meaning of the statute, id., at 1533- 1536. There was, the court reasoned, a sufficient nexus between those commercial activities and the wrongful acts that had allegedly injured the Nelsons: "the detention and torture of Nelson are so intertwined with his employment at the Hospital," the court explained, "that they are 'based upon' his recruitment and hiring" in the United States. Id., at 1535. The court also found jurisdiction to hear the claims against Royspec. Id., at 1536.2 After the Court of Appeals denied petitioners' suggestion for rehearing en banc, App. 133, we granted certiorari, 504 U. S. 972 (1992). We now reverse.
II
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act "provides the sole basis for obtaining jurisdiction over a foreign state in the courts of this country." Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp., 488 U. S. 428, 443 (1989). Under the Act, a foreign state is presumptively immune from the jurisdiction of United States courts; unless a specified exception applies, a federal court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over a claim against a foreign state. Verlinden B. V. v. Central Bank of Nigeria, 461 U. S. 480, 488-489 (1983); see 28 U. S. C. § 1604; J. Dellapenna, Suing Foreign Governments and Their Corporations 11, and n. 64 (1988).
2 The Court of Appeals expressly declined to address the act of state doctrine, 923 F. 2d, at 1536, and we do not consider that doctrine here.
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