MOUNT HOREB, Wis. (AP) — The mother of a freelance American journalist who was released from captivity in Iraq said Wednesday that she hopes her daughter will finally return home to rural Wisconsin after living abroad for decades.
Katib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia group, kidnapped 49-year-old Shelly Kittleson off a Baghdad street corner on March 31. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday that Kittleson had been released.
Two officials within the militia, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, told The Associated Press that in exchange for freeing Kittleson, several members of the group who had previously been detained by Iraqi authorities would be released.
Kittleson's mother, Barb Kittleson, said she’s not sure how much U.S. officials want her to say, but that she’s relieved her daughter has been released. She said she went to her local library in Mount Horeb, a village of about 7,000 people in southern Wisconsin, and used a computer there to email her daughter that she hopes she returns to the U.S. and that she's made up her bedroom.
Shelly Kittleson left Wisconsin in 1995 at age 19 for Italy, where she went to school and worked as a nanny. Over the years she has earned a reputation as a determined and gutsy reporter, working from Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East for news outlets including Al-Monitor.
Barb Kittleson said that her husband, Bob, died of pancreatic cancer in 2024 and that she hasn't seen her daughter since 2002, when she visited her while touring Italy. Asked if she misses Shelly, she nodded her head yes.
She said she doesn’t know if her daughter will get her message, noting that U.S. officials are trying to limit contact with her for a week and that she doesn’t know if her daughter's captors took her phone and computer.
Kataib Hezbollah has been accused of kidnapping other foreigners.
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton graduate student with Israeli and Russian citizenship, disappeared in Baghdad in 2023. After she was freed and handed over to U.S. authorities in September 2025, she said she had been held by Kataib Hezbollah, which never officially claimed responsibility.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq have also launched regular attacks on U.S. facilities in the country since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
A street view shows the street corner in central Baghdad's Saadoun Street where U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson was kidnapped in central Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 1 2026. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)
U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson poses for a photo, March 25, 2025, in a cafe in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again Wednesday in response to Israeli attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, casting doubt over whether an already precarious ceasefire to end more than a month of war will hold.
The United States and Iran both claimed victory after reaching the agreement, and world leaders expressed relief, even as more drones and missiles hit Iran and Gulf Arab countries. Israel also intensified its attacks in Lebanon, hitting several commercial and residential areas in Beirut without warning. At least 112 people were killed and hundreds were wounded in one of the deadliest days in the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
The fresh violence threatened to scuttle what U.S. Vice President JD Vance called a “fragile” deal. The White House demanded that Iran reopen the strait immediately and said Vance would lead the American negotiating team in talks in Pakistan aimed at finding a permanent end to the war.
“Aggression towards Lebanon is aggression towards Iran,” Gen. Seyed Majid Mousavi, aerospace commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, wrote on X. He warned that Iranian forces were preparing a “heavy response” without revealing details.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted that an end to the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire agreement with the U.S.
“The world sees the massacres in Lebanon,” he said in a post on X. “The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said American and Israeli forces had achieved a “capital V military victory” and that the Iranian military no longer posed a significant threat to U.S. forces or the region. The Iranian military said the country forced Israel and the U.S. to accept its "proposed conditions and surrender.”
Much about the agreement was unclear as the sides presented vastly different visions of the terms.
— Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its new practice of charging ships passing through the strait, a crucial transit lane for oil. But the details were not clear, nor was it known whether vessels would feel safe using the channel or whether ship traffic had resumed. It also was unclear whether any other country agreed to this condition.
— Pakistan, which helped to mediate the deal, and others said fighting would pause in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israel said it would not, and strikes hit Beirut on Wednesday.
— The fate of Iran's missile and nuclear programs — the elimination of which were major objectives for the U.S. and Israel in going to war — also remained unclear. Trump said the U.S. would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, though Iran did not confirm that.
In the streets of Tehran, pro-government demonstrators screamed: “Death to America, death to Israel, death to compromisers!” after the ceasefire announcement and burned American and Israeli flags.
The chants underscored the anger animating hard-liners, who have been preparing for what many assumed would be an apocalyptic battle with the United States. Trump warned Tuesday that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” if a deal was not reached.
Trump initially said Iran proposed a “workable” 10-point plan that could help end the war the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28. But when a version in Farsi emerged that indicated Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium — which is key to building a nuclear weapon — Trump called it fraudulent without elaborating.
Vance later said the deal was being misrepresented within Iran, though he did not offer details.
Iran’s demands for ending the war include a withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions and the release of its frozen assets.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s personal envoy arrived in Iran for talks on “the way forward.”
Pakistan said talks to seek a permanent end to the war could begin in Islamabad as soon as Friday. Trump told The New York Post that in-person talks would happen “very soon."
Israel backed the U.S. ceasefire with Iran, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal does not cover fighting against Hezbollah. Trump told the “PBS News Hour” that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire deal “because of Hezbollah.”
Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Israel will continue to “utilize every operational opportunity” to strike Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it struck more than 100 targets within 10 minutes Wednesday across Lebanon, the largest wave of strikes since March 1.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli attacks as “barbaric.” Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused Israel of “persistently seeking to sabotage” the Iran ceasefire deal.
Hezbollah has not confirmed if it will abide by the ceasefire, though the group has said it was open to giving mediators a chance to secure an agreement. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said the group would not stop firing at Israel unless Israel agreed to do the same.
While Iran could not match the sophistication of U.S. and Israeli weaponry or their dominance in the air, its ability to control the Strait of Hormuz proved a tremendous strategic advantage. Iranian attacks and threats deterred many commercial ships from passing through the waterway, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas passes in peacetime.
That roiled the world economy and raised the pressure on Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.
The ceasefire may formalize a system of charging fees in the strait that Iran instituted — and give it a new source of revenue.
The plan allows for both Iran and Oman to charge ships, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations they were directly involved in. The official said Iran would use the money it raised for reconstruction.
That would upend decades of precedent treating the strait as an international waterway that was free to transit and will likely not be acceptable to the Gulf Arab states, which also need to rebuild after repeated Iranian attacks targeting their oil fields.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said passage through the strait would be allowed under Iranian military management, further clouding the picture of who would be allowed to transit the waterway.
News of the ceasefire sent stock markets surging worldwide, and oil prices plunged back toward $90 per barrel.
U.S.-Israeli strikes have battered Iran and its leadership, but they have not entirely eliminated the threats posed by Tehran's nuclear program, its ballistic missiles or its support for regional proxies, like Hezbollah. The U.S. and Israel said addressing those threats was a key justification for going to war.
Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. would work with Iran to “dig up and remove” enriched uranium that was buried under joint U.S-Israeli strikes in June. He added that none of the material had been touched since. Any retrieval is expected to be an intensive undertaking.
There was no confirmation from Iran.
Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing Wednesday that the U.S. would do “something like” last June's joint strikes with Israel on Iranian nuclear sites if the country refuses to surrender its enriched uranium voluntarily.
Tehran insisted for years that its nuclear program was peaceful, although it enriched uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.
Iran referred to its nuclear program differently in two versions of the ceasefire plan that it released. The version in Farsi included the phrase “acceptance of enrichment” for its nuclear program. That phrase was missing in English versions shared by Iranian diplomats with journalists.
Shortly after the ceasefire announcement, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all issued warnings about incoming missiles from Iran. That fire stopped for a time, then hostilities appeared to restart.
An oil refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island came under attack, according to Iranian state television. The state broadcaster reported that no one was hurt but did not say who launched the attack. The island is home to one of the terminals that Iran uses to export oil and gas.
A short time later, the United Arab Emirates’ air defenses fired at an incoming Iranian missile barrage. Kuwait said Wednesday three power and water desalination plants were badly damaged after 28 Iranian drones were launched at the country. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted nine drones.
More than 1,900 people had been killed in Iran as of late March, but the government has not updated the war’s toll for days.
In Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, more than 1,500 people have been killed, and 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Magdy from Cairo and Metz from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Edie Lederer at the United Nations, Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem, Abby Sewell and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Mike Catalini in Trenton, N.J., and Michelle L. Price, Aamer Madhani and Joshua Bloak in Washington contributed to this report.
First responders search at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment building in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following several Israeli airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A first responder emerges through the smoke at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment building in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A woman is assisted at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment building in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on a building in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A man feeds birds on a street in Tel Aviv, Israel, after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire with Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Displaced children sit on a truck with their packed belongings as they wait for an official ceasefire decision between Iran and the United States that they hope will include Lebanon and allow them to return to their villages, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei during a gathering after announcement of a two-week ceasefire with the United States and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A government supporter chants slogans during a gathering after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire with the United States and Israel in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
People check the damage of a coffeeshop at the site of an Israeli strike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, April, 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Men carry the coffins with the bodies of Pierre Mouawad, an official with the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces party, and his wife during their funeral in Yahshush, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
The White House is seen in Washington, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. EDT. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
An Iranian cluster munition missile explodes in the sky over northern Israel, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Activists protest near the White House in Washington, Tuesday evening, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Pro-government demonstrators chant slogans as they hold Iranian flags and a poster of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in a gathering after announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the war with the United States and Israel, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution, Square, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
