Islam does not allow for the concept of a nation-state. (This is the basis of the problems in all of the middle east “nations.” They were created by the west, not by themselves.) There is just Islam. It is a religion, a legal system, a government and all the things that would, to a westerner be a nation. You can not be an American, or, for that matter, a German or a Japanese, and also be a Muslim believer. If you are one, you can’t be the other. They are mutually exclusive. Now, you can be a citizen, but only until Islam takes over the nation. Then you are a “subject” (not a citizen) of the Caliphate.
So you ask, what are those people who are Iranian, or Iraqi? They are Muslim first. The people in charge of those states, like the Ayatollahs, keep up the fiction because they are surrounded by other states. It gives them territorial identity which is useful when dealing with other states. But you can’t be a real citizen with legal protections of those states unless you are Muslim. Then, if you are, the next up is what kind of Muslim? They don’t all have the same rights; depending on who is in charge and what their beliefs are.
Yep.
Spot on.