Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi underlined that the era of the world powers\' bullying has ended, and said independent countries should now make progress and attain different achievements. Addressing the seventh meeting of Iran-Vietnam Joint Economic and Trade Cooperation Commission in the Iranian capital, Rahimi said the era of the supremacy of bullying powers has come to an end and the time has arrived for the independent nations to flourish. \"The bullying powers have for years imposed sanctions against the Iranian nation, but such embargoes prompted the Iranians to rely on their own capabilities and climb the ladder [of success],\" the vice-president said. In relevant remarks in June, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei had also downplayed the plots hatched by the bullying powers against the Iranian people, and hailed the nation\'s resistance against such pressures as a main cause of the country\'s giant progress. \"Owing to its exalted goals, that is attainment of Islamic values and realization of Islamic fundamentals in the society and their spread throughout the world, the Iranian nation has and will always be faced with the world bullying, colonialist and dictatorial powers and the hardships imposed (on Iran) by them,\" Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with the head and the senior officials of the Iranian judiciary at the time.