iPhone 16 Pro iMessage showing 'needs to be enabled' error

Hi. I have an iPhone 16 pro running ios26.1. I went to send a message about a transaction but it says that iMessage needs to be enabled. I made sure that it was enabled I. Settings. The I tried turning it off then back on with no results. I’ve used it in the past but it has been a while since I’ve had a transaction issue. Any other thoughts?