DUBAI The United Arab Emirates has deployed hundreds of workers to combat an oil slick threatening the beaches of Dubai after a 3,500-ton Iraqi tanker sank in the Persian Gulf last week, Dubai municipal officials said on Tuesday. They said municipal workers on Monday removed some 5,000 bags of waste from Dubai's beaches. The spill was the emirate's worst environmental disaster in years, an official said as quoted by Reuters. The Iraqi tanker Zainab was carrying around 1,300 tons of fuel oil when it sank on Saturday en route to a holding area for vessels suspected of smuggling Iraqi oil in violation of UN sanctions.