BAGHDAD, April 7 (Reuters) - Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah, which is aligned with Iran, said on Tuesday it would release abducted U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson, adding that she must leave Iraq immediately.

Kittleson was abducted in late March in Baghdad.

Middle East news site Al-Monitor said Kittleson was a U.S. freelance journalist based in Rome who had covered several wars in the region and had contributed articles to the outlet.

A video purporting to show Kittleson was shared by a social media outlet close to Kataib Hezbollah on Tuesday.

PARIS, April 7 (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday that he hoped U.S. President Trump would not go ahead with his latest threats against Iran.

"One does not erase a civilisation...This ultimatum is not the first that President Trump has set since the war started," Barrot told France 2 television.

"Obviously I hope he does not go ahead with his threats that would push the region but also the world in a new escalation that would be particularly dangerous," he added

By AJ Vicens

April 7 (Reuters) - Iranian hacking campaigns targeting equipmentused across multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors are escalating in response to hostilities, U.S. cybersecurity, law enforcement and intelligence agencies said on Tuesday.

The hackers are targeting publicly exposed programmable logic controllers and supervisory control and data acquisition displays, according to the advisory. The targeted devices are used to interact with or control certain critical infrastructure-related equipment and systems, the advisory said.

BEIRUT, April 7 (Reuters) - Bombardment in southern Lebanon on Tuesday forced a convoy of humanitarian aid organized by the Vatican's embassy for a besieged Christian town to turn back, a priest in the town told Reuters.

Thousands of Christians in several southern Lebanese towns have stayed in their homes despite the escalating fighting between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, hoping their towns would be spared if they stayed on the sidelines of the conflict.

Donald Trump is no stranger to provocative language. But his threat to wipe out Iranian civilization and other recent menacing comments have prompted critics to question the US president's mental health.

The oldest elected president in American history has ramped up his apocalyptic rhetoric as his frustration grows with Tehran's refusal to make a deal to end the Middle East war.

Even some former allies have called for the 79-year-old Republican's removal from office after a series of outlandish and sometimes expletive-riddled social media posts.

At a church in the mountains outside Beirut, Raymonda Mouawad raged as she buried her brother, killed by an Israeli strike in a war against Hezbollah that he had nothing to do with.

"We shouldn't be forced to bear the guilt of others' mistakes," she said, her voice filled with anger and sorrow.

"We're done with Israel and Hezbollah. That's all I want to say," she told AFP at the church, which was overflowing with hundreds of family members, friends and supporters.

Donald Trump's increasingly apocalyptic threats of destruction in Iran have raised concerns of just how far the US president might go militarily to bend the Islamic republic to his will.

Trump announced Tuesday that "a whole civilization will die" if Iran does not heed his ultimatum to accept US war demands, while Vice President JD Vance warned that Washington had additional "tools in our toolkit" that could be deployed against Tehran.

- New 'tools' -

LISBON, April 7 (Reuters) - Portugal said it had authorised 76 landings by U.S. aircraft at the Lajes air base in the Azores and 25 overflights of its territory since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, on condition they were not used to bomb civilian infrastructure.

Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel told a parliamentary hearing the U.S. had complied with the condition, in the spirit of "loyal cooperation" between the two NATO allies, but said that on several occasions landings had also been refused.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy Iran's power stations and bridges, but bombing electricity plants would likely spur a humanitarian crisis and fierce retaliation from Tehran, experts say.

- What could be targeted? -

Previous airstrikes from the United States and Israel during the more than five-week war have hit energy infrastructure such as gas production facilities or oil depots, as well as transport routes.

April 7 (Reuters) - Iran wants to charge fees for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as part of its proposals to end the war with Israel and the United States after blocking most traffic through the crucial energy waterway for weeks.

The Strait, a strip of water only 34 km (21 miles) wide between Iran and Oman, provides passage from the Gulf to the Indian Ocean and is the main route for about a fifth of world oil supplies and other vital goods including fertilisers.

WHAT IS IRAN PROPOSING?