US President Donald Trump notified Congress Monday that he was extending the national emergency with Iran that has been in place since the 1979 hostage crisis, saying relations with the Islamic regime have not normalized.

Previous US presidents routinely extended the national emergency, which otherwise expires on the November 14 anniversary of the original declaration.

But for Trump, the notice underscores his administration’s tense relation with Iran, wrote The Washington Times.

“Our relations with Iran have not yet normalized, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated January 19, 1981, is ongoing,” Trump wrote Congress in the formal notice.

The 1981 agreement with Iran arranged for the release of 53 American hostages taken at the US Embassy in Tehran in November 1979, at the time of the Iranian Revolution.