MALAGA, Spain (AP) — Actor Antonio Banderas joined the crowds in dozens of Palm Sunday processions, marking the official start of Holy Week in Spain, a country with a fervent Catholic tradition.
After singing a hymn inside the church of Saint John, Banderas, dressed in a traditional penitent’s robe in bright beige with dark green detailing, gave the order to set in motion the float on which the bearers carry the Virgin of his brotherhood, Tears and Favors.
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Penitents of the "Pollinita" brotherhodod take part in a Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Penitents of the "Pollinita" brotherhodod take part in a Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Penitents of the 'Pollinita' brotherhood, dressed in a typical Apostle costumes take part during the Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Penitents of the 'Pollinita' brotherhood, dressed in a typical Apostle costumes pose for a picture ahead the Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A penitent of the 'Pollinita' brotherhood, dressed in a typical Apostle costume, holds an image symbolizing the apostles during the Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Known for his long film career in Spain and Hollywood, Banderas has been participating in the procession in Malaga, his hometown in southern Spain, for more than 20 years.
“I always see the traditions of my homeland, our identity, and the way we experience our celebrations, and I’m delighted to be here," Banderas, 65, told reporters. “For me, Holy Week is a time of tears and favors that bring about very beautiful things”.
His brotherhood is one of nine that will parade through the narrow streets of the old town for several hours on a sunny Sunday, lasting until nightfall.
Palm Sunday, the first major day of the Holy Week, marks Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem days before his crucifixion, which Christians commemorate on Good Friday, and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Andalusian cities of Seville and Malaga host some of the most popular and lavish processions, featuring elaborately decorated floats and hundreds of penitents, but religious events of all kinds take place throughout Spain.
In Cabra, a small town in the nearby mountains of Cordoba, in addition to the faithful who march carrying traditional palm branches, 12 of them portrayed Jesus’ apostles wearing masks bearing their likenesses.
Over the next week, thousands of penitents will carry and accompany the antique and venerated images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in their massive floats, while hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists fill the streets to watch them march, singing hymns, showering them with flowers, or observing a solemn silence.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Penitents of the "Pollinita" brotherhodod take part in a Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Penitents of the "Pollinita" brotherhodod take part in a Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Penitents of the 'Pollinita' brotherhood, dressed in a typical Apostle costumes take part during the Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Penitents of the 'Pollinita' brotherhood, dressed in a typical Apostle costumes pose for a picture ahead the Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
A penitent of the 'Pollinita' brotherhood, dressed in a typical Apostle costume, holds an image symbolizing the apostles during the Holy Week procession in Cabra, southern Spain, Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States said Sunday it rescued a service member missing behind enemy lines since Iran downed a fighter jet, as President Donald Trump escalated pressure on Tehran with a new looming deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran showed no signs of backing down, striking economic and infrastructure targets in neighboring Gulf Arab countries.
The airman’s extraction followed a U.S. search-and-rescue operation after the Friday crash of the F-15E Strike Eagle, as Iran also promised a reward for anyone who turned in an “enemy pilot.” Trump said he was injured but in stable condition.
“This brave Warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies, who were getting closer and closer by the hour,” Trump wrote on social media.
A second crew member was rescued earlier.
The fighter jet was the first American aircraft to have crashed in Iranian territory since the U.S. and Israel launched the war, striking Iran on Feb. 28. The war has since killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.
Trump said last week that the U.S. had “decimated” Iran and would finish the war “very fast.” Two days later, Iran shot down two U.S. military planes, showing the ongoing perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of a degraded Iranian military to continue to hit back.
As Iran continues to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, Trump, in a weekend social media post, threatened to unleash “all Hell” if it isn’t opened by Monday. He has issued such threats before and extended them when mediators have claimed progress toward ending the war on agreeable terms.
The other jet to go down was a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it crashed was immediately known.
On Sunday, Iran’s state TV aired a video showing what it claimed were parts of American aircraft shot down by Iranian forces, along with a photo of thick, black smoke rising into the air. The broadcaster said Iran had shot down an American transport plane and two helicopters that were part of the rescue operation.
However, a regional intelligence official briefed on the mission told The Associated Press that the U.S. military blew up two transport planes due to a technical malfunction, forcing it to bring in additional aircraft to complete the rescue.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the covert mission.
In Kuwait, an Iranian drone attack caused significant damage to two power plants and put a water desalination station out of service, according to the Ministry of Electricity. No injuries were reported from the attack, the ministry said.
In Bahrain, the national oil company said that a drone attack caused a fire at one of its storage facilities, which was extinguished. It said the damage was still being assessed and no injuries had been reported.
In the United Arab Emirates, authorities responded to multiple fires at the Borouge petrochemicals plant that they said were caused by intercepted debris. Production at the plant in Ruwais, near the UAE’s western border with Saudi Arabia, was halted.
The strike came a day after Israel struck a petrochemical plant in Iran that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said generated revenue that it had used to fund the war.
Trump renewed his threats for Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz by Monday or face devastating consequences, writing Saturday in a social media post: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them.”
The waterway is a critical chokepoint for global energy shipments, especially oil and gas moving from the Persian Gulf to Europe and Asia. Disruptions there have injected volatility into the market and pushed oil and gas-importing countries to seek alternative sources.
“The doors of hell will be opened to you” if Iran’s infrastructure is attacked, Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi with the country’s joint military command said late Saturday in response to Trump’s renewed threat, state media reported. In turn, the general threatened all infrastructure used by the U.S. military in the region.
But Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told the AP that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track” after Islamabad last week said that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt were working to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.
The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb.
The strait, 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide, links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships pass through it.
“Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?” Qalibaf wrote.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.
This report has been corrected to show that Borealis is an Austrian company and not Australian.
Metz reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.
Vehicles and motorcycles move past an anti-U.S. billboard depicting the American aircrafts into the Iranian armed forces fishing net with signs that read in Farsi: "The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, The entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground," at the Eqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, wreckage is shown at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site of a downed American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)
In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, wreckage is shown at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site of a downed American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)
In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, black smoke rises into the air at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site where an American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation were shot down, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)
In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, wreckage is shown at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site of a downed American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)
Members of Lebanon's General Security stand at the Masnaa border crossing in the Bekaa valley, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man, who fled Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon with his family, sleeps in his car used as shelter, along a seaside promenade in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Followers of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans as they wave national Iraqi flag during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A bedroom is damaged in a building struck in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Pedetrians walk by a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh, with the mosque visible in the background, which officials at the site say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday, in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Police officers and their horses take cover in an underground parking garage as sirens warn of an incoming missile fired from Yemen in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)
A man looks at a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh complex that officials say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
