Barack Obama
Barack ObamaReuters

US President Barack Obama has been pushing the Iran nuclear deal signed earlier this month by claiming the only other option is war with Iran - but he is wrong, according to the nominee to be the next Chief of Naval Operations.

Navy Adm. John Richardson told the US Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that aside from the current deal, there are "other options besides going to war."

Richardson was asked by Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA): "we do not have to sign this agreement, and that does not necessarily mean that we will be going to war with Iran. Is that your assessment?”

The admiral began with a general supportive statement of the government, before Senator John McCain (R-AZ) broke in to clarify, saying, "admiral, you were just asked to give your personal opinion if asked for it. The senator is asking for your opinion as to whether there are other options besides going to war with Iran."

“I think that there are other options besides going to war,” Richardson stated.

The statement is meaningful, particularly because the Obama administration has been pulling out all the stops and even recruiting Hollywood stars to fear-monger against opponents of the Iran deal, claiming that the only other option is war.

Richardson's assessment echoes that of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, who on Wednesday told the Committee that there are a "range of options" aside from war or the current nuclear deal.

Israel has long called for a tightened sanctions regime to force Iran to submit to better conditions than the current deal, which allows the leading state sponsor of terror to inspect its own covert nuclear sites, along with numerous other questionable points.