for and foreach make the argument an alias to (not a copy of) the values in the list.

Even if you copy a reference, you still get a reference, so I don't understand what you are trying to say.

my $href = {
  'x' => {
     'y' => {
         'z' => [ $xref, $yref, $zref ],
      },
     #'strange' => { ..... },
  },
  #'charm' => { .... },
};
for my $obj ( %$href ) {
    print "$obj: ",ref($obj),$/;
    my $copy= $obj;
    print "$copy: ",ref($copy),$/;
}
__END__
prints:
x:
x:
HASH(0x1a65030): HASH
HASH(0x1a65030): HASH
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        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")