IRAN OIL MINISTER QUITS AS HORMUZ STAYS SHUT

Iran's oil minister Mohsen Paknejad resigned on October 4, with NIOC chief Hamid Bovard stepping in as acting minister, state media reported. Hours later, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until the US meets seven conditions set out in the Islamabad memorandum. Tehran changed the face running its oil ministry but kept its hardest line on the strait exactly where it was. $USO traders are left watching a chokepoint standoff with no new deadline.