The Iranians declared this week that the Middle East has become a battlefield where a "war by proxy" is being waged against them -- a war they plan to win.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also accuses the Islamic State group and other jihadi terrorist groups of forcing external powers to intervene in various conflicts areas worldwide.

Iran has been flexing its muscles and expanding it naval operations, defiantly stating that the Persian Gulf states pose no threat to the Islamic republic. Tehran has even declared that it plans to expand its naval presence in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean.

The Iranians have no plans to forfeit their hold on Yemen, which will afford them control of the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden; their aspiration to dominate the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf and is a crucial waterway in the oil trade; or their grip on the three Abu Musa islands in the eastern Persian Gulf, which actually belong to Bahrain.

Tehran continues supplying the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen with "humanitarian" aid by sea, and is even negotiating a contract with Oman, meant to regulate the latter's control on the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

On the other side of this equation, U.S. President Barack Obama has urged NATO to join the military campaign against Islamic State, despite the questions about the extent of Washington's own involvement in the campaign, and knowing that fighting Islamic State effectively bolsters Iran, Shiite Iraq, Syrian President Bashar Assad, Hezbollah, and Russia, which for its part needs to preserve Assad's regime to maintain its use of the Tartus and Latakia ports.

Traditionally, Islam defines "the Zionist project" as its primary enemy. Now, as the Shiite-Iranian threat to Sunni Islam is perceived as an equally troubling threat, the coalition's airstrikes against Islamic State are perceived as American support for the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis.

The Sunni Arab states see the American actions as undermining the only entity curbing Iran's expansion aspirations, therefore casting doubt on the U.S.'s motives in the region. The weakness the American administration demonstrated during the nuclear negotiations with Iran has only made the Sunni states more suspicious, breeding distrust in Washington's intentions.

American defense officials have expressed disappointment in the U.S.-trained Iraqi military's performance, especially over the surprising and humiliating fall of the major Iraqi city of Mosul to Islamic State in 2014, and most recently the fall of Ramadi, another major city, to the jihadi group.

American commentators recently explained the Iraqi military's inferiority by saying Islamic State has been able to enlist experienced Sunni officers, who once served under Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, to their ranks. Frustrated over their dismissal by the Americans, these highly qualified officers are religiously motivated to give their lives for Islamic State's cause.

The Sunni dam

Arab leaders are wary of placing boots on the ground in conflict areas involving Iran or any of its proxies, despite forming a pan-Arab coalition and launching Operation Storm of Resolve. The Arab leaders fear a potentially large number of casualties, as well as directly confronting Iran. This is why Turkey, in collaboration with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, prefer aiding Islamic State, which they have labeled "rebels" or "moderate opposition," seemingly oblivious to the fact that the lion's share of Islamic State operatives are al-Qaida and Nusra Front extremists.

In the internal pan-Arab Sunni discourse, Islamic State is referred to -- albeit with mixed emotions -- as the "Sunni dam." The fear is that if the dam breaks, Islamic State will overrun all Arab capitals.

Islamic State has marked a series of strategic achievements in Iraq and Syria: In Iraq, the jihadi group has cut Baghdad's government off from the paths to Syria and Jordan, stemming Iranian ambitions in the country; while in Syria, Islamic State has been able to gain control of essential areas and border crossings, shedding Hezbollah's blood in the process, and dealing Iran and its allies considerable blows.

Lebanon is not immune to hysteria either, and just recently Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah explained how crucial the battle was, and urged the Lebanese Army and Sunni political leader Saad Hariri to lend a hand.

Nasrallah countered the criticism within Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of dragging the country into battles it has no business fighting, by saying the takfiris -- Muslims who accuse other Muslims of apostasy -- sought to rape, kill, and enslave the Lebanese people, including the Sunnis, whom Islamic State denounces as heretics.

Despite being the "Sunni dam," Islamic State's progress on the Jordanian and Lebanon borders is very disconcerting to the conflicted Arab states, as it creates momentum that encouraged radical Islamist terrorist organizations in Sinai and Africa to pledge allegiance to Islamic State.

With their policy of terror and intimidation, Islamic State leaders are realizing the aspects of Islam that mandate the use of military power to strike fear in the hearts of the enemies of God and Islam. The jihadi group's continuous progress further realizes, both covertly and overtly, the creation of Islamic enclaves, even in Europe and the U.S., en route to establishing the global Islamic caliphate.

Arab leaders are facing a dilemma: On one hand, they know a future that includes Islamic State cannot bode well, while on the other hand they are forced to back the terrorist group in their efforts to curb Iran and its proxies.

Earlier this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Ankara has begun arming and training the moderate opposition forces fighting the Assad regime.

This admission came after a long period of time in which Turkey secretly supported Islamic terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, providing them with funds, weapons, and training, and purchasing their oil.

Turkey is also using Islamic State to stop the Kurds from establishing an independent state, but it is the Kurds, of all people, who have so far been able to stand their ground, fight Islamic State and stop it from overrunning their territory.

Islamic State tactics have so far realized the principles of war as preached by the Prophet Muhammad, including raids, confrontations, and retreat. Back then it was warriors on horseback. Today it is convoys of armored vehicles carrying heavily armed terrorists.

Intimidation and propaganda play a key role in Islamic State's success. The Prophet would declare he had terrorized his enemies into submission days before arriving at the battlefield, and Islamic State relies heavily on psychological warfare.

Saddam Hussein's regime was an antivirus of sorts, neutralizing the Iranian threat. The end of his regime meant the Iranian threat could run rampant, and now it is the Islamic State and its offshoots that counter this threat, and the Arab nations, as well as Israel, fear that the elimination of Islamic State will essentially lift the last obstacle curbing Iran's aspirations of Middle East domination.

The problem, of course, is that Islamic State is akin to flesh-eating bacteria that will eventually attack the Arab nations, the Jews, and the entire world. This leaves us to pray both sides come out the winner.