Forget 700 centrifuges. Try 1500 centrifuges instead. Via Reuters:
Diplomats pointed out that Iran planned to start installing 3,000 centrifuges later this year. About 1,500 centrifuges running optimally and nonstop for a year could yield enough highly enriched uranium for an atomic bomb, nuclear scientists say.
''Their insistence on R&D seems to encompass the 3,000 centrifuges, so this was no basis for compromise as far as we could see," said one EU3 diplomat.
Assuming Iran's claim of 6 work units per centrifuge is sustainable for 1,500 units, sufficient material for a nuclear bomb could be obtained in approximately months. Factor in time to assemble the centrifuges and weaponize the result, and a timeline of a nuclear weapon by 2009-2010 is feasible.
Iran could in principle be underreporting, as it does them little good internationally to claim higher numbers than they hope to achieve. Consider their recent claim:
"When we were negotiating with the Europeans in Tehran, we were still installing some of the equipment at the Isfahan site. There was plenty of work to be done to complete the site and finish the work there. In reality, by creating a tame situation, we could finish Isfahan," said Hassan Rowhani, who headed talks with Britain, France and Germany until last year.
The speech [by Mr. Rowhani to the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution], which lays out Iran's policy of nuclear deception in unprecedented detail, was published in an Iranian journal that circulates among the nation's ruling elite.
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