cannot receive photos through icloud

See this article If you can't send or receive messages on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Try these steps first

1. Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
2. Check your network connection. To send a message as iMessage or MMS, you need a cellular data or Wi-Fi connection. To send an SMS message, you need to have a cellular network connection. If you turn on Wi-Fi Calling, you can send SMS messages over Wi-Fi.
3. Check with your carrier to see if the type of message you’re trying to send, like MMS or SMS, is supported.
4. If you’re trying to send group MMS messages on an iPhone, go to Settings > Messages and turn on MMS Messaging. If you don't see an option to turn on MMS Messaging or Group Messaging on your iPhone, then your carrier might not support this feature.
5. Make sure that your device has enough space to receive images and videos.
6. Make sure that you entered the correct phone number or email address for the contact.

If you see a Waiting for Activation alert, learn what to do.

Read this also Manage your iCloud storage - Apple Support

It can take awhile. When I was experimenting with this to understand how it was working, I had one that took, maybe 30 minutes (could have been longer, I wasn't paying attention), for it to complete the download. It got to a point where it had downloaded some of the pics and I could look at them, then it finished, and I was able to save them to my device.

And, really, at this point, after you have been resetting stuff, there's no way to know where it might be (if anywhere) right now. Have your friend send it again, then let it go until the morning to see if all is well.

Patience.

Best,

GB