NEW YORK (VINnews) — The family of Jason Spindler, an American Jewish businessman who was killed in the 2019 terrorist attack on the DusitD2 hotel and office complex in Nairobi, Kenya, has filed a lawsuit against Iran in a federal court in Washington, D.C., according to Kenyan media reports.

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Court documents filed on Thursday, August 6, allege that Iran played a key role in establishing the support network that enabled the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab to carry out the deadly attack. The lawsuit claims that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its elite Quds Force provided the group with weapons, funding, training, and logistical assistance, citing U.S. government and United Nations information.

Spindler, 40, was among the 21 people killed in the attack. The assault began when a suicide bomber detonated explosives outside a restaurant before four armed militants stormed the mixed-use complex, opening fire on civilians and throwing grenades until they were eventually killed by Kenyan security forces.

The lawsuit comes at a particularly tense moment in U.S.-Iran relations, amid escalating exchanges between President Donald Trump and senior Iranian officials, as well as ongoing diplomatic efforts surrounding tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the complaint, al-Shabaab said the attack targeted Western and Israeli interests in retaliation for Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the subsequent relocation of the U.S. Embassy to the city.

Iran has not been formally held responsible for the Nairobi attack by either U.S. or Kenyan authorities, and the allegations contained in the lawsuit remain before the court.

At the time of the attack, Spindler was attending a business meeting when gunmen entered his office and opened fire. He was critically wounded and later died from his injuries. A co-founder of international development firm I-DEV International, Spindler worked in an office building adjacent to the hotel that was targeted and was reportedly shot while working on a balcony.

In the aftermath of the attack, his mother, Sarah Spindler, remembered her son as someone dedicated to improving lives through economic development.

“He was trying to create positive change in developing countries by helping build new markets,” she told NBC News in 2019. “We all miss him so much, and it’s incredibly tragic that such a brilliant young man was taken by terrorism.”

Spindler was also a survivor of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, having escaped the World Trade Center attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.