Last week Randi Weingarten, leader of the powerful American Federation of Teachers, declared support for "safety strikes" if local unions deem insufficient the steps their school districts are taking to mitigate Covid-19. And on Monday an alliance of teachers unions and progressive groups sponsored what they called a "national day of resistance" around the country listing their demands before returning to the classroom. They include:

• "Support for our communities and families, including canceling rents and mortgages, a moratorium on evictions/foreclosures, providing direct cash assistance to those not able to work or who are unemployed, and other critical social needs
• Moratorium on new charter or voucher programs and standardized testing
• Massive infusion of federal money to support the reopening funded by taxing billionaires and Wall Street"

The phrase for this is political extortion. Rather than work to open schools safely, the unions are issuing ultimatums and threatening strikes until they are granted their ideological wish list. Children, who would have to endure more lost instruction, are their hostages.

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These public unions are also lobbying their political allies to keep public charter and private schools closed. On Friday the chief health officer for Maryland's Montgomery County, Travis Gayles, ordered private schools to remain closed until Oct. 1.

Public schools are funded whether they open or not. But private and religious schools, which rely on tuition and donations, don't have that luxury. The Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom reckons that 107 private and religious schools have been shut down permanently at least partly due to Covid-19. New York's Catholic archdiocese has announced the closure of 20 schools.

The teachers unions have a cynical interest in forcing their competitors to shut down. What a humiliation it would be if charter and private schools reopen and demonstrate that in-person education can be done with the right risk mitigation. Or if parents unsatisfied with the public schools' response to the coronavirus decide a private school would be better for their child.

If there's a silver lining here, it's that Americans are getting a closer look at the true, self-interested character of today's teachers unions. They are allies of the political left. And they wield monopoly power that they are now using to coerce parents and taxpayers to dance to their agenda if they want their children to learn.

The proper political response should be to give taxpayer dollars to parents to decide where and how to educate their children. If parents want to use the money for private schools that are open, or for new forms of home instruction, they should have that right. No political force should have veto power over the education of America's children.

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The Biden administration has expressed a willingness to return to the deal but has insisted that Iran move to full compliance with the deal first. Tehran has rejected any preconditions and called for the immediate lifting of sanctions.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who said last week that Doha was in consultations to help salvage the deal, met in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on February 15.

The minister also met with President Hassan Rohani and delivered a message from the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

"We welcome efforts by friendly countries like Qatar," Khatibzadeh said, confirming that there have been consultations between Tehran and Doha at various levels.

Under the deal -- reached by Iran, the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France, and Britain -- Iran agreed to curbs on its uranium-enrichment program in return for the lifting of sanctions.

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