Iran targets Barbie in crackdown

Iranian police have closed down dozens of toy shops for selling Barbie dolls, in a new crackdown on signs of Western culture in Iran.

A police official said officers confiscated Barbie dolls from shops in Tehran in a "new phase" of its crackdown against "manifestations of Western culture".

Barbie dolls are sold wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear head scarves in public, and men and women are not allowed to swim together.

A ban on the sale of the dolls, designed to look like young Western women, was imposed in the mid-1990s.

In 1996, a government-backed children's agency called Barbie a "Trojan horse" sneaking in Western influences like makeup and revealing clothes.

Authorities launched a campaign of confiscating Barbie dolls from toy shops in 2002, denouncing what they called the un-Islamic characteristics of the uniquely American doll. The campaign was eventually dropped.

Also in 2002, Iran introduced its own competing dolls - twins Dara and Sara - who were designed to promote traditional values with modest clothing and pro-family stories. But the dolls proved unable to stem the Barbie tide.

Despite bans on many Western books, films, satellite TV channels, music, haircuts and fashions, young people maintain their interest in Western culture.