TEHRAN - Iran has renewed its effort to fight Barbie dolls with an Islamic model and avoid a “cultural invasion”, media reports said Friday.

In 1996, Iran branded the highly popular Barbie dolls a “cultural invasion” against Iranian children and announced the production of an Islamic toy to counter the threat.

The Islamic “Barbie” dolls known as “Sara” and her brother “Dara” arrived on the market in 1999 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution but found little resonance among Iranian children.

According to toyshop owners, the Iranian dolls were not only expensive but also too heavy for children.

Ten years later, the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IDCYA) started another effort by producing a new version of the Islamic dolls.

IDSYA head Majid Qaderi, the creator of “Dara” and “Sara”, told ISNA news agency that the new versions of dolls are smaller, lighter and cheaper than the initial models and would hit the market at the beginning of November this year.

Qaderi had in the past compared the Barbie dolls with the “Trojan Horse, with many cultural invading soldiers inside it”.

The Iranian clergy have constantly warned of “irreparable (cultural) damage” toys such as Barbie, Batman, Harry Potter and Spiderman could have for Iranian children.

The warnings in the last three decades of a “Western cultural invasion”, also regarding Western films, music and fashion, have so far had little impact and the illegal articles are still purchased by Iranians on the black market.