Iran opposition leader calls for referendum amid protests

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A long-detained opposition leader in Iran is calling for a nationwide referendum about whether to write a new constitution for the Islamic Republic amid nationwide protests shaking the country. Mir Hossein Mousavi’s call, posted late Saturday by the opposition Kaleme website, included him saying he didn’t believe Iran’s current system giving final say to a supreme leader worked any longer. Those under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have been cracking down on demonstrators since the protests began in September after the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman earlier detained by the country’s morality police.