I did acknowledge the discovery and exploitation of Persian oil holdings in 1906, which is of course three years after the start of the Berlin-Baghdad railway.

I did acknowledge the discovery and exploitation of Persian oil holdings in 1906, which is of course three years after the start of the Berlin-Baghdad railway. That makes it still impossible for the Germans to be interested in the Middle East for its oil, since the start of the German interest predates any knowledge by anybody of oil resources. Trying to turn every war into being ultimately based on a war for control over resources is already a task that often overruns available evidence. In trying to turn WWI into a war over Middle Eastern oil, however, you sail so far that you need to invoke time travel.