The top commander of the US military's Central Command said the campaign against Iran is "ahead or on plan," as the Israeli military began what it called "a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting Iranian terror regime infrastructure" early Monday.

US Navy Admiral Brad Cooper gave his first one-on-one interview of the war to the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International, which aired it early Monday. Iranian media reported new airstrikes targeting Tehran without identifying the sites being hit.

The previous day, Tehran warned it could attack US and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets if Israel or the US attempt to follow through on President Donald Trump 's threat that the US would "obliterate" Iran's power plants if it doesn't fully open the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump – who is facing increasing pressure at home to secure the strait as oil prices soar – issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home.

He wrote on his Truth Social website early Monday: "PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, TO PUT IT MILDLY!!!"

Iranian state television read out its statement on air Monday morning. "What we have done is to announce our decision that if the power plants are attacked, Iran will retaliate by targeting the power plants of the occupying regime and the power plants of regional countries that supply electricity to US bases, as well as the economic, industrial and energy infrastructures in which Americans have shares," the statement said, referring to Israel as an "occupying regime."

It added: "Do not doubt that we will do this."

The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 US military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.

‘Desperation’ claim from US

Iran was "operating in a sign of desperation" by targeting civilian sites in the war, US Navy Admiral Brad Cooper said.

“In the last couple of weeks, they've attacked civilian targets very deliberately, more than 300 times," he said in the interview.

Cooper also noted the slowdown in Iranian incoming fire across the Mideast as the war has entered its fourth week.

"At the beginning of the conflict, you saw large volumes in the dozens of drones and missiles," Cooper said. "You no longer see that. It's all one or two at a time."

He said the US campaign against Iran is "ahead or on plan."

He said that the US and Israel were targeting missile and drone manufacturing sites as well.

"So it's not just about the threat today. We're eliminating the threat of the future, both in terms of the drones, the missiles, as well as the navy," he said.

Cooper also said it isn't time for the Iranian public to come to the streets, although both Israel and the US have said they hope the Iranian public would topple the country's theocracy as a result of the strikes.

"They're launching missiles and drones from populated areas and you need to stay inside for right now," Cooper said. "There will be a clear signal at some point, as the President has indicated, for you to be able to come out."