Walter Posch is senior associate at SWP (German Institute for International and Security Affairs) in Berlin. He works within the research division on Africa and the Middle East. Between 2004 and 2009, he has been senior research fellow at the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), Paris and between 2000 and 2004 he was researcher at the National Defense Academy in Vienna, Austria. His areas of expertise include foreign, security and defense policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian domestic policy, political system and ideology of the Islamic Republic and European-Iranian relations. Dr. Posch has received a Ph.D. in 1999 in Iranian Studies from Bamberg University.