On February 1, 1979, while flying from Paris to Tehran, ABC's Peter Jennings asked Khomeini how he felt about returning home after 14 years in exile.

"Hich. Hich," responded Khomeini.

That word "Hich" means "nothing" in Persian.

"Yes, another famous quote and I think his whole persona was supposed to be this untouchable, unreachable, beyond you know, basic human emotion, religious purity," said Silk. "And that was all part of the act, wasn't it? That, yes, "I'm not, I don't carry (or) get carried by waves of emotion. I have a bigger agenda here.'"

Fast forward 40-plus years and the chant still hasn't gone away. 

Just two years ago, Iran's current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said this:

"The situation between America and Iran is this: When you chant, "Death to America!" It is not just a slogan, it is policy," Khamenei said.

Iran's leaders still call the U.S. the "Great Satan," and Israel, "Little Satan."

But lately, on Iran's street's the people are chanting something very different.

"Death to the Dictator. Death to the Dictator."

The 2022 protests after Mahsa Amini's death, a 22-year-old arrested for not allegedly wearing her hijab properly, sparked something huge.

The chants weren't against America. They were against Iran's own leaders.

Iranian-born Mike Ansari is with Heart 4 Iran.

"The younger Iranians, especially those that are active in recent protests, the 'Women, Life, Freedom' ones, the chants feel false," said Ansari. "They're replacing the slogan with 'Death to the Dictator,' or 'Our Enemy is Right Here in Our Country.'"

After the latest strikes by Israel and the U.S., Silk says a lot of people inside Iran are quietly wondering could this be it? Could this finally lead to real change? 

Many believe the regime is weaker now than it's ever been in its 46-year rule–more isolated, more distrusted, and more out of step with its own people.

"What the people associate with these chants, and this kind of rule is suffering," argued Silk. "And there's no fooling them anymore. There was a time when they bought into it as a religious endeavor, a high standard. But the fruit of this has been so painful that they are against it now."