Kristof: During travels, Iran felt 'pro-western'

>>> let's solve this. him to six continents. imagine all he's witnessed. i began by asking him about iran and what it's like to travel there as an american journalist.

>> you know, it's amazing that you travel around iran and it feels like the most pro western country in the middle east . everybody, they find out you're an american, they just want to talk to you. they practically want to hug you. i took my family with me, two of my kids with me on my last trip. so you know, we took a long road trip across the country.

>> across iran .

>> across iran .

>> you drove in a car with your kids across iran .

>> exactly. it was a little crazy.

>> interesting.

>> i was a little nervous child protective services was going to have a word with me when they found out about this. people would see my daughter and they just kind of flipped out. they were so gracious and just wanted to bring us into their homes and talk to us. there was embarrassment on the part of many people about their government and a real yearning for the prestige, influence that persia traditionally had had and embarrassment about what it has become. not true of all people. still many people support the regime, but overall i think there are a lot of people that just feel this experiment with the islamic revolution has essentially failed.

>> do you feel there's any appetite for another revolution within iran from those people who think the government in this experiment has failed?

>> i think definitely. i think that if it were up to popular sentiment, i think you would have a very different government. at the end of the day , revolutions usually happen not when people are most upset but when they think they can get away with it. as long as the government is willing to shoot people, usually revolutions don't happen, with occasional exceptions. so my hunch is that we're not doing to see people rising up and forcibly overthrowing the government of iran . but the supreme leader in iran is getting pretty old. when he dies or becomes incapacitated, i think that is doing to be a chance to have a very different iran emerge.

>> what kind of a father are you when you're not taking your children on vacation driving through iran ? what kind of a dad are you to your three children?

>> one of the things that i think does set me apart, we do travel a lot together. i take my kids as much as i can on these trips. my daughter's big complaint, she's the baby of the family, is that she hasn't yet been arrested with me as the boys have.

>> you've been arrested with your sons.

>> my eldest son and i were -- there was an attempt in sudan on the border between sudan and south sudan to arrest us, although we had more gunmen than the other side did, show we were whisked away. so we were okay. my middle son was arrested with me in china once years ago. that was such a great father-son bonding experience, i really recommend an arrest. my daughter feels so cheated that she hasn't been --

>> what is wrong with you, nicholas, seriously. i see you have clearly some talent in many ways in your family. we can see the evidence of artistic talent. this is your daughter's and your son's, one of your two sons. you must be proud. apparently she's given you pieces on loan.

>> they are on loan from the artist, so i have to good care of them. this is kind of a gallery.

>> more of our conversation with nick kristof . today at noon at noon. he will talk about you how he managed to get into syria and about one fum in his office that's shoechd to make you smarter.