We demonstrate how to obtain optimal constraints on a primordial gravitational wave component in lensed Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data under ideal conditions. We first derive an estimator of the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$, by using an error-controlled close approximation to the exact posterior, under the assumption of Gaussian primordial CMB and lensing deflection potential. This combines fast internal iterative lensing reconstruction with optimal recovery of the unlensed CMB. We evaluate its performance on simulated low-noise polarization data targeted at the recombination peak. We carefully demonstrate our $r$-posterior estimate is optimal and shows no significant bias, making it the most powerful estimator of primordial gravitational waves from the CMB. We compare these constraints to those obtained from $B$-mode band-power likelihood analyses on the same simulated data, before and after map-level quadratic estimator delensing, and iterative delensing. Internally, iteratively delensed band powers are only slightly less powerful on average (by less than 10%), promising close-to-optimal constraints from a stage IV CMB experiment.
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