Are Iran's Actions Just Another Schlieffen Plan?

Map illustrating the Schlieffen Plan during World War I, showing the German army's planned advance through Belgium and Luxembourg towards France, with the aim of encircling Paris, circa 1914.

On Saturday morning, the anticipated war between the US and Iran started six months' earlier than expected with the assassination of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini.

Like with the murder of the heir to the Austro-Hungary empire in 1914, are we now witnessing the start of another world war through another big assassination ? Let's hope not.

The killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the trigger event which catalysed the First World War but this time things look like they might be happening in reverse.

Four years ago, Russia invaded the Ukraine from the East like Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia from the West in 1938, another pre-world war reversal.

Prior to 1914, the Triple Alliance consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy against the Triple Entente of Russia, France and Britain. In the event of a war breaking out between the two alliances, Germany had a military plan called the Schlieffen Plan in order to win the broader war which would inevitably follow. In this plan, the larger and one of the most powerful members of f the Triple Alliance, Germany (Iran, today is the smallest) would speedily win the war in six weeks by quickly marching through Europe by taking a shortcut through Belgium into France and then abruptly conquering Paris.

However, the Schlieffen plan, miserably failed. The Germans were unable to take Paris and France within six weeks.

War broke out between Austria- Hungary and Russia in the Balkans just like war has broken out between the US and Iran in the Middle East.

Germany came to the defence of its ally, Austria-Hungary by implementing the Schlieffen Plan.

Germany invading France forced France to declare on Germany and for going through Belgium, Britain also declared war on them and what followed is now history.

Unlike Germany, Iran is not the biggest of its modern day alliance system but the smallest and it is here we can see another reversal trend like Putin coming in from the East like Hitler came in from the West during WW2.

Does Iran have its own type of Schlieffen plan to try and drag its allies into supporting them following the assassination of its own leader?

Drone and missile attacks on neighbouring Arab states like Dubai, Qatar and Oman etc has brought Britain closer into the Iran war in the Middle East like Germany came to the support of Austria Hungary over Balkans. . The UK has now sort of come close to declaring war on Iran allowing the the US to use their Military bases for so called defensive strikes to protect its citizens in those countries being attacked.

If Iran were to able to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and threaten world oil supplies, would this not encourage their other allies, Russia and China to take a more active role and come to their rescue?

If the US is legitimately bombing Iran from the air , then maybe Putin might start thinking he can legitimately start bombing a Baltic state and come to the rescue of Iran by expanding his European theatre beyond Eastern Ukraine?

Could China with less domestic oil production than Russia also come to the support of Iran by arguing that if the US can legitimately attack Iran it can now legitimately invade Taiwan and help divert US military attention away?

If Russia and China did give their support to Iran through military action rather than just words, then surely this would be the start of another world war?

Iran has a different empire to that of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. Unlike the Austria-Hungary empire it does not consist of countries but instead terrorist group proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen and Hamas in what left of places like Gaza, Iraq and Syria.

The assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand led to the start of the First world War. In the case of a possible world war three, do we have yet anther reversal?

In Iran it is not the assassination of an heir which might lead to WW3 but the leader, Ruhollah Khomeini. The reversal event is his son, the heir, Mojtaba Khamenei becoming the next leader of Iran.

Nobody yet knows the answers to the many other above questions will be but let's hope peace and common sense prevails and the war between the US and Iran comes to a quick end and any possible talk of a WW3 thankfully averted.