By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the U.S. military was sinking Iran's Navy, having destroyed nine Iranian warships so far and "going after the rest."

Trump made the announcement in a social media post as the Pentagon intensified its bombings of Iran's military, deploying B-2 stealth bombers from the U.S. to strike at hardened, underground Iranian missile facilities with 2,000-lb bombs.

U.S. strikes also pummeled Iran's naval headquarters, largely destroying it, Trump said.

ATHENS, March 1 (Reuters) - More than a thousand demonstrators marched to the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Athens on Sunday to protest against strikes in Iran.

Demonstrators mainly affiliated to the Greek Communist Party held banners and placards reading "Hands off Iran" and "close Souda base".

Greece on Saturday tightened security in Souda naval base on the island of Crete, a strategic facility for the United States in the eastern Mediterranean.

The U.S. and Israeli embassies were cordoned off with rows of blue police buses.

BERLIN, March 1 (Reuters) - Israel has flown its official government aircraft to Germany and parked it for safety at Berlin's airport, German government sources said, after U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and plunged the region into conflict.

Media reports citing data from the Flightradar24 flight tracking service said the aircraft departed Israel early on Saturday afternoon and circled over the Mediterranean before flying to Germany in the evening.

The biggest disruption to global air transport since the Covid pandemic snarled travel for a second day on Sunday, with thousands of flights affected and busy Gulf hubs including Dubai and Doha shuttered as Iran lashed out after US-Israeli strikes.

Passengers were stranded around the world as airlines sought to reroute around the Middle East, where most countries had slammed their airspace shut as Iran launched retaliatory strikes on the glittering Gulf cities.

BERLIN, March 1 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called on U.S. and European partners to start planning for the future of Iran and the region, saying the people of Iran deserved a better future after U.S. and Israeli strikes killed its supreme leader.

Merz said his government agreed with U.S. goals to end Tehran's nuclear armament and finish a "destructive game" being played by Iran, but he warned of possible dangers ahead.

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Iran's new leadership wants to talk to him and that he has agreed, according to an interview with the Atlantic magazine.

"They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them. They should have done it sooner. They should have given what was very practical and easy to do sooner. They waited too long," Trump said in the interview from his Florida residence.

Trump did not specify who he would be speaking with or say whether it would occur on Sunday or Monday.

The gunman who killed two people and wounded 14 overnight in Austin, the capital of the US state of Texas, had expressed "pro-Iranian regime sentiment" on social media, the SITE Intelligence Group said Sunday.

The organization, which monitors jihadist groups, identified the assailant, who was shot dead by police, as Ndiaga Diagne, a US citizen of Senegalese origin. Austin police confirmed that identification Sunday evening.

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.