Iowa Code § 661.9: Petition.

The plaintiff in such action shall state the plaintiff’s claim, and shall also state facts sufficient to constitute a cause for such claim, and shall also set forth that the plaintiff, if a private individual, is personally interested therein, and that the plaintiff sustains and may sustain damage by the nonperformance of such duty, and that performance thereof has been demanded by the plaintiff, and refused or neglected, and shall pray an order of mandamus commanding the defendant to fulfill such duty.