Wind Gusts Push Oil Spill Closer to Morocco’s Coast : Environment: The 100-square-mile slick from a damaged Iranian tanker threatens fisheries, beaches, wildlife reserve.

With winds gusting up to 40 m.p.h., heavy sea swells pushed a 100-square-mile oil slick to within 12 miles of Morocco’s Atlantic coastline Wednesday, hampering a cleanup operation and raising fears that the vessel could break up in the storm.

Meteorologists said weather conditions deteriorated sharply Wednesday and pushed the oil oozing from the 283,632-ton Iranian tanker Kharg 5 toward the port of Oualidia, about 80 miles south of Casablanca.

Fisheries, tourist beaches, a migratory bird reserve and an important breeding ground of pink flamingoes would be threatened by the oil, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

Moroccan authorities said floating barriers were laid along the coastline, but French experts doubt they can withstand the high seas. Despite the weather, cleanup crews continued to spray oil dispersants into the spill.

Morocco on Wednesday threatened to file a lawsuit against Iran’s national oil company as a result of the spill. It also criticized salvage workers for reacting too slowly.

A series of unexplained explosions on the night of Dec. 18-19 tore through the Kharg 5’s hull, rupturing its tanks. So far, 70,000 tons of crude oil have been spilled into Moroccan waters.

The tanker, which still has 200,000 tons of crude in its tanks, is reportedly being towed to the Cape Verde Islands, where the remaining oil will be unloaded, the salvage company said.

In Washington, the State Department said Wednesday that the Coast Guard is sending a team of experts to Morocco in response to that government’s request for help.

In the Netherlands, a shipping official said that Dutch authorities had prevented five Iranian supertankers from leaving Rotterdam in the last 14 months because they failed to meet international safety standards, the news agency ANP said Wednesday.

The official said that three of the vessels are sister ships to the Kharg 5. All the vessels were permitted to leave after the most necessary repairs were made.

ANP quoted other officials as saying that one of the tankers was to have a large hole in its engine room--the result of an attack during the Iran-Iraq War.