Iran has backed Syria in its rift with the United Nations over cooperation with an inquiry into the killing of a former Lebanese prime minister. "We declare our support for uncovering the truth vis-à-vis the assassination of Mr. Rafik al-Hariri and I have seen that the officials in Syria support this issue in a good way," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said after talks with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Monday. He also called for confronting US "dubious moves" in the Middle East. "We pin our hope that the investigation team continues its work on a pure legal foundation and does not work on politicising the investigation." US pressure on Syria peaked in recent weeks to cooperate with a UN investigation into the 14 February killing of al-Hariri in a Beirut bomb blast. The head of the UN team, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, complained in October that Damascus was not cooperating with his investigation that linked some Syrian officials to the killing.