By AJ Vicens

March 1 (Reuters) - A wave of cyber-enabled operations took place early Saturday morning alongside the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on targets across Iran, according to cybersecurity experts and observers.

The operations included the hacking of multiple news websites to display various messages and the hack of BadeSaba, a religious calendar app with more than 5 million downloads, which displayed messages telling users “It’s time for reckoning” and urging armed forces to give up weapons and join the people.

They moved to the UAE expecting a non-stop VIP experience, but instead Dubai's influencers found themselves under a barrage of Iranian missiles and drones.

Since early on Saturday, foreigners in the United Arab Emirates have been sharing videos of plumes of smoke rising above the skyscrapers and expressing their shock that the usual haven of stability was under attack.

"OMG!" Israeli wellness influencer Hofit Golan exclaims repeatedly in a video that shows a building near her apartment in flames.

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KAPIKOY, Turkey , March 1 (Reuters) - Some Iranian citizens are being stopped from crossing into Turkey at Iran's northwestern Khoy land border gate, according to three foreign passport-holders who crossed on Sunday and some local Turkish media.

A day after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior officials, one of the travellers told Reuters there were increasing numbers of those waiting to cross into Turkey's eastern Van province.

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that 48 leaders have been killed in U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

"It's moving along. It's moving along rapidly. This has been this way for 47 years," he was quoted as saying in an interview with Fox News. "It's moving along rapidly. Nobody can believe the success we're having, 48 leaders are gone in one shot. And it's moving along rapidly."

(Reporting by Bo Erickson and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Paul Simao)

Iranians were experiencing a mix of shock, grief and joy after the death of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Israeli and US strikes extended into a second day Sunday.

The attacks unleashed on Saturday killed Khamenei and top military leaders and prompted Iranian authorities to retaliate with strikes on Israel and across the Gulf.

At the first reports of Khamenei's death, many Iranians erupted into cheers from apartment buildings in the capital Tehran while others blared car horns and blasted music in the streets.

Shattered glass lay strewn across the streets of a residential area of Tel Aviv on Sunday, the day after an Iranian missile strike left one woman dead, but residents insisted they could withstand further attacks.

The US and Israel launched a wave of strikes against Iran on Saturday, sparking a rapid retaliation from Tehran which continued to send people running to shelters under wailing sirens and overhead blasts on Sunday.

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - Three U.S. service members have been killed in action as part of U.S. military operations against Iran, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Sunday.

Five others were seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury, it said.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Paul Simao)

The US military on Sunday said three service members have been killed and five seriously wounded in the war against Iran -- the first casualties announced on the US side.

The news, which could have serious political ramifications in Washington, came as President Donald Trump emphasized successes in the operation, announcing that nine Iranian naval ships had been sunk and not referring to the US deaths.

The United States and Israel launched massive bombardments against Iran and killed its supreme leader Saturday, with attacks ongoing Sunday.

By Yousef Saba, Jaidaa Taha and Jonathan Saul

DUBAI/LONDON, March 1 (Reuters) - At least three tankers were damaged off the Gulf coast after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered Iranian retaliation that put merchant ships at risk of collateral damage, shipping sources and officials said on Sunday.

Risks to commercial shipping have surged in the past 24 hours, with more than 200 vessels including oil and liquefied gas tankers dropping anchor around the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters, shipping data showed on Sunday.

Bashar al-Assad, Nicolas Maduro and now Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In the last 18 months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has lost several key foreign allies -- and there is little that the Kremlin, bogged down in Ukraine, can do about it.

Tehran has stood by as one of Russia's closest backers throughout Moscow's four-year offensive and the Kremlin had earlier called for restraint amid reports of imminent US military action in Iran.